It’s Wednesday.

Has anyone watched Welcome to Wrexham? I’ll give you the TLDR: actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the third oldest football team in the world - a Welsh team called Wrexham FC - and made it one of the world’s most exciting and successful football clubs.

Season 3 of the docu-series started this week (it’s on Disney+), and if you want to feel good about the role of sport in bringing people together, watch it.

(By the way, this isn’t sponsored, but TDA always accepts milk chocolate bullets as compensation 😉.)

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“It's going to come down to who wins the last game of the season.”
Former Australian Socceroo, Mark Schwarzer, comments on how competitive the Women’s Super League (soccer) is becoming. For the first time in the history of the league, a team that has lost more than two games is set to take out the title.

Stat of the day

5
The record number of Summer Games that British diver Tom Daley is set to have competed in by Paris 2024. The team Great Britain veteran was just named in the synchronised diving squad for the Paris Games. He made his Olympic debut at only 14 years old, in Beijing 2008.

Random fact of the day

Former American runner “Bobbi” Gibb became the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon in 1966. Her run was later challenged due to prejudices surrounding women’s athletic capabilities. Bobbi went on to become a three-time winner of the women’s division in the pre-sanctioned era before women were allowed to compete officially in 1972.

I’ve got 1 minute

The Australian Olympic Committee has selected four surfers to represent Australia in Tahiti as part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

As a result, surfers Molly Picklum, Tyler Wright, Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing will all be heading to their first-ever Games.

Surfing qualification for the Olympics

Surfing made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, with 40 surfers competing. This year’s Paris field will see 48 surfers (24 men and 24 women) contest for Olympic glory.

Each nation can select a maximum of four representatives for the Paris Games, typically two from each gender.

Paris 2024’s surfing events will take place over four days between 27 July to 8 August.

In … Tahiti?

Surfing will be the only Paris 2024 sport not hosted in France. Instead, it will take place in Tahiti, an island in the French overseas territory of French Polynesia, located over 15,000km from the host city.

According to the Games’ organisers, the decision to stage the sport at Teahupo’o - the most famous surf spot in Tahiti - aligns with its goals to engage with France’s overseas territories.

However, there has been some controversy around the location. In December 2023, the International Surfing Association - recognised by the IOC as the governing body for surfing - issued a statement condemning the French Polynesian government and Games organisers for running the event in Tahiti due to environmental concerns for the local reef ecosystem.

The concerns included the construction of an aluminium tower on the reef to host broadcasters and competition officials.

Nonetheless, Paris 2024 organisers progressed with the construction of a new tower, replacing a temporary wooden judging tower used throughout the surf competition season.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Lucas Herbert, a professional Australian golfer, is among seven LIV Golf League defectors to have been invited to also join the PGA, the world’s pre-eminent professional golf league, for its championship event in Kentucky next week.

It reverses a trend where golfers who had signed up for the LIV competition were previously fully excluded from PGA tournaments - but as a merger deal between LIV Golf and PGA edges closer, players are beginning to cross into both competitions.

Herbert is currently ranked within the top 100 in the official world golf rankings, standing at number 89. 

The Aussie recently clinched back-to-back wins in the LIV Golf League, competing with an all-Australian team, the Ripper GC.

Firstly, what is LIV Golf?

The LIV Golf League is a professional breakaway competition that is backed by the Saudi Arabian government, directly competing with the PGA Tour (the name given to the body that runs golf’s main tournaments).

The series, which officially launched in June 2022, initially drew controversy due to its financial backing and political ties. The league is majorly funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is controlled by the country's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

The Crown Prince allegedly played a role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, in 2018. 

LIV Golf officially debuted as a 48-player invitational series, which included some players on the PGA Tour who were offered large payments to sign up. It included some of the biggest names in golf like American Brooks Koepka, and Australia’s own Cameron Smith. 

In response, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan introduced suspensions and fines for players who elected to participate in ‘Saudi Golf League’ events. 

This resulted in the suspension of 17 PGA players - including those who resigned from the league and defected to play with LIV Golf. 

The relationship between LIV Golf and PGA Tour

It’s been a turbulent relationship between LIV and PGA. 

The introduction of LIV Golf positioned the league as a rival series to the PGA Tour and its European equivalent, the DP World Tour. 

Charl Schwartzel, one of the suspended PGA players, won the inaugural LIV Golf event and pocketed over $US4 million alone.

The attractiveness of the prize money offered to players in the LIV Golf League became a major factor in the LIV-PGA defection debate, prompting the PGA to increase its prize money during the 2022-23 schedule.

In August 2022, LIV Golf joined 11 of its players in filing an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour over its decision to suspend them for playing in the Saudi-backed circuit. The players claimed that their punishments were illegal, and part of the PGA’s plan to ‘defeat competition’. This marked the beginning of a lengthy legal dispute between the two leagues, as the PGA tour launched a countersuit in September 2022.

LIV and PGA come together

After a tumultuous back-and-forth legal battle, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour shocked the golfing world by filing a joint motion to dismiss their antitrust litigation suits. 

Instead, the pair announced the intention to merge, with the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf combining their commercial operations to both grow and unify the game.

There is no official agreement just yet - the leagues are still currently negotiating their partnership. 

A message from our sponsor

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Looking back…

Here are some scores we think you should know about from the last 24 hours. There’s always a lot of sport, so this is just a selection.

Looking forward…

Here are some things to watch in the next 24 hours. Again, there’s always a lot of sport - this is just a selection.

TDA asks