For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Friday morning, golf fans, as we head into day two of the BMW Championship.

1. Senator demands information, testimony from LIV Golf’s Saudi leader

Yahoo’s Jay Busbee…”A U.S. senator is demanding that the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the financial foundation of LIV Golf, comply with a congressional request for testimony and information.”

• “U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chair of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has released a letter to PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan disputing the contention that Al-Rumayyan is an “inappropriate witness” in the Senate’s investigation of the ongoing PIF-PGA Tour agreement. The subcommittee, Blumenthal wrote, “is seeking to understand the scope of PIF’s U.S.-based investments and PIF’s plans for the PGA Tour and other U.S. entities.”

• “Al-Rumayyan, a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, spearheaded both the development of LIV Golf and a partnership agreement with the PGA Tour. Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, along with a select few other individuals, reached the stunning agreement that shocked the golf world in June and ended, at least temporarily, hostilities between the two tours.”

2. Trio of medalists lose at US-Am

Cameron Jourdan for Golfweek…”It was a bad morning to be a co-medalist in the 2023 U.S. Amateur.”

• “Blades Brown, who at 16 became the youngest medalist in U.S. Amateur history, Jackson Buchanan and Sampson Zheng, the top three seeds at Cherry Hills Country Club, lost in their Round of 32 matches Thursday morning.”

• “Brown, who shot 64 on Tuesday at Colorado Golf Club, the stroke-play co-host, led 1 up after seven holes but proceeded to lose three of the next four to Auburn’s Jackson Koivun. Then, Koivun won consecutive holes on Nos. 14 and 15 to end the match, 4 and 3.”

• “Buchanan, a senior at Illinois, fell in a similar fashion, losing 4 and 3 to Cooper Jones, an incoming freshman at BYU. The match was tied walking to the ninth tee, but Jones proceeded to win four straight holes to take command.”

• “Then, the final co-medalist from stroke play, Sampson Zheng of China, lost to Mexico’s Jose Islas, 2 and 1, meaning all three co-medalists and the top three seeds are out after the Round of 32.”

3. Currently…

Cameron Jourdan for Golfweek…”After a grueling Thursday at Cherry Hills Country Club, the 2023 U.S. Amateur is (almost) down to eight vying for the Havemeyer Trophy.”

• “Cherry Hills started to show its teeth, especially during the Round of 16 on Thursday afternoon. The wind picked up, the greens became more firm and started browning out, and players who stayed out of trouble took advantage.”

• “However, one semifinal match is tied heading to a 19th hole come Friday morning, and it had an incredible ending Thursday night.”

• “A select few amateurs are closer to winning the biggest championship in men’s amateur golf.”

• “Friday’s quarterfinal tee times were moved up to the morning because of possible severe weather in the afternoon. The first tee time will be at 10:30 a.m. ET.”

4. Walters: Mickelson was involved in money laundering investigation

Billy Walters, in an excerpt published on the Firepit Collective…“Unknown to the public, Mickelson was involved in a separate money-laundering investigation. More than a decade before the start of my partnership with Phil, he had been betting big-time through Silveira, a former San Diego stockbroker and avid golfer. In the spring of 2010, Mickelson asked Silveira if he would do him a favor. Mickelson wanted to transfer several million dollars to Silveira and then have Silveira wire it from his personal bank account to the offshore book to pay off Phil’s gambling losses. Unfortunately for Silveira, he said yes. The wire transfer quickly caught the attention of the criminal division of the IRS.”

“Mickelson wanted to transfer several million dollars to Silveira and then have Silveira wire it from his personal bank account to the offshore book to pay off Phil’s gambling losses. Unfortunately for Silveira, he said yes. The wire transfer quickly caught the attention of the criminal division of the IRS.”

“With the feds on his heels, Phil told me that his friends at KPMG, his main corporate sponsor at the time, had introduced him to a D.C. attorney named Gregory Craig. He was not just any lawyer; Craig had been chief White House counsel for President Obama. With boyish looks and trademark white tousled hair, Craig had an Ivy League pedigree, having attended Harvard as an undergrad and Yale Law School. Craig also was tight with Preet Bharara, then the U.S. attorney in the powerful Southern District of New York, former U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch, and the director of enforcement at the SEC. Now that’s political juice.”

“With Mickelson in the midst of a money-laundering investigation and a target of an insider-trading investigation, what did super-lawyer Craig do to get the prosecutors off Phil’s back? He performed a legal trick so improbable that it was like Harry Houdini pulling a rabbit out of a hat while in chains underwater.”

5. Unranked golfer still alive at U.S. Am round of 32

*and now into the round of 16*

Brentley Romine for the Golf Channel…”For three years, Chang, who goes by Paul, peppered Virginia head coach Bowen Sargent with inquiries on how he could join the Cavaliers men’s golf team. Initially, Sargent directed Chang, who was born in China but attended boarding school in England and was relatively new to the game, to the school’s club team.”

• “He kept emailing me and emailing me, asking me, ‘What do I have to do to get on the team?’” Sargent said. “I kept telling him, ‘I don’t know if you can help us yet, but just keep working at it.’”

• “…Not only is Chang, who has two years left before he graduates, preparing for his first season of varsity golf at Virginia, but he also is still alive at the 123rd U.S. Amateur, his first individual USGA championship. Chang advanced to match play before knocking off Caden Fioroni in the Round of 64 on Wednesday at Cherry Hills, and on Thursday morning he’ll take on the world’s seventh-ranked amateur, Tennessee’s Caleb Surratt, as the only unranked player left in this field.”

6. Rahm incredulous over Barstool host’s swing

Our Matt Vincenzi…”While appearing on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm was presented with a video of Big Cat’s, who’s one of the show’s hosts, swing.”

• “While Big Cat tried to convince Rahm that the swing was real, Rahm kept repeating, “that set up is not your real set up. No, it’s not”.

• “Big Cat replied, “I shot a 72 at Shinnecock once, I think you actually needed that score to make the cut.”

7. Rahm on Masters menu

Our Matt Vincenzi…”One of the best traditions of The Masters is seeing what’s on the menu at the champions dinner. Even though it’s still only August, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm has given some insight as to what might be served next April.”

• “While appearing on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, Rahm said after winning the Masters “it’s all I thought about for some reason,” but added that “After that, I haven’t. I know the dessert.”

• “In Spanish it would be ‘Milhojas’ which translates to ‘a thousand layers’”.

• “He added that the cocktail reception would include “a Spanish ham, Jamón ibérico.”

• “Everything in between I have no idea,” Rahmbo added.

8. Harman leaps to defense of ‘journeyman’ Glover

Mark Townsend for Golf Monthly…”Open champion Brian Harman has leapt to the defence of Lucas Glover after reading an article where the former US Open champion was labelled a ‘journeyman’.

• “Glover’s form of late has been sensational – two weeks ago the 43-year-old was 117th in the world, then he won the Wyndham and followed it up at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to move to 30th. In the FedExCup standings he is up to fourth and there’s plenty of talk about him making Zach Johnson’s Ryder Cup team.”

• “It’s hard for me to put into words how proud and impressed I am with Lucas Glover just because of what he’s been through. I read an article the other day that made me very angry. It said journeyman Lucas Glover and I thought, what a ridiculous thing to say. This guy has made I don’t know how many Tour Championships, won the US Open. He’s won six or seven times now. Lucas Glover is a world beater,” explained Harman.

9. Photos from the BMW Championship

• Check out all our photos from Olympia Fields!