What a fabulous article by Jim Nugent which absolutely captures the hypocrisy, greed and bemoaning of the pathetic LIV players (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
How much money do these guys need? Their income derived from the PGA and DP World tours are figures mere mortals can only dream about. They have scant regard for the history and traditions of the golfing establishment.
I sincerely hope that LIV and the PGA Tour do not merge.
It would not worry me in the slightest if I did not see a LIV player compete again. There are plenty of honest and grateful superstars-in-waiting ready to take their place.
David Parrish
Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
The LIV guys are perfect examples of today’s “what’s in it for me” attitude, and I’m sick of it (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Jim Nugent’s words and perspective were spot-on.
Ed May
Omaha, Nebraska
Whether or not one is pro or con LIV, one cannot deny the immense hypocrisy that exists in many minds (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
The subject of LIV is largely raised by U.S. golf organizations or commentators who clearly believe the issue is solely about the LIV vs. PGA Tour and that the PGA Tour has been jilted for big money.
Whilst the U.S. has a bigger tour, it is largely because the tour is not a collection of many different countries like the European Tour and the others. This means the U.S. sponsors’ markets are more easily reached and so can justify larger sums. The prize money is comparatively immense, and players worldwide will abandon their home tour given half a chance, just as the LIV players abandoned the PGA Tour.
The hypocrisy exists in that the USGA worries not a jot for the tours they denuded in the past and continue to denude. If they did, I might listen more.
Like most of us, I find that watching TV golf is a poor substitute, yet perhaps everyone loses out if we start to watch four majors with a half-rate cast. That is where the battle should be fought, not in denigrating the opposing side.
Jon Gant
Windsor, Berkshire, England
Jim Nugent may regret writing this article when the dust settles (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Both sides are right and have valid points to make. Time will tell if this is the end of an era or a new beginning. I vote for a beginning.
The PGA Tour has returned (somewhat) to being a player-owned organization because of LIV. The players should be thankful for this and for the great increases in purses and somewhat guaranteed incomes.
Where was that money before?
Michael Lach
Pebble Beach, California
Viewing figures for golf are down because fans have had enough of being taken as fools (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
The statement from LIV players that “we want to grow the game of golf” is a joke. Why are they not honest and admit they’ve only signed for the amount of money offered to them?
Good luck to everybody who has signed for LIV, but please stop whining about the world-ranking system. They all knew what they signed up for, so where is the problem?
I guess they have never had to learn that one cannot have everything one wants.
Anneliese Hartley
Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England
Thank you for telling it like it is, Jim Nugent (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Bryson DeChambeau and the LIV players sold their souls and now want redemption? No way. Frankly, I hope none of them ever wins another PGA Tour event. And who will even realize they are gone once their exemptions run out? Not many “patrons” of the game, I hope.
Shirley Link
Bensalem, Pennsylvania
I don’t agree with all the LIV bashing (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). For me, both LIV and the PGA Tour are equally responsible for the golf war.
The PGA Tour has made a host of changes, all or nearly all centered around money, and which strongly favor the top 20 or so golfers, to the detriment of the rest. Had they made them three years ago, perhaps LIV never would have gotten off the ground.
Both are driven by greed, and hypocritical. I enjoyed watching the Masters, but otherwise I have not watched much golf in many months.
Chuck Salek
Stamford, Connecticut
Watching the LIV players disappear like “snaw aff a dyke” (snow off a wall) was one of the most satisfying aspects of this year’s Masters (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Back to their plastic, holiday golf events fueled by greed and self-importance.
Having been back briefly in the real world of traditional professional golf at Augusta must have given “The Butlins Boys” time to reflect on what the game is really all about, and it’s not money.
Ronnie MacAskill
Edinburgh, Scotland
(MacAskill, a longtime member of the Professional Golfers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, is the retired director of golf at Royal Aberdeen.)
Please keep up the good fight (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). These guys cannot be allowed to have their cake and eat it.
Michael Branagan
Skerries, Dublin, Ireland
Jim Nugent writes that LIV golfers are greedy (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). Spare me the greed claims.
LIV golfers were offered generational money to play golf. If a Global Golf Post writer were to be offered 10 times more money to write for another publication, he’s greedy if he takes the job? Give me a break.
Nugent doesn’t like Saudi money, but look at it this way: Our government is doing its best to shut down U.S. oil production while begging Saudi Arabia to amp up its production. Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, et al., are just repatriating our oil money. They are American heroes.
David Murphy
Travelers Rest, South Carolina
I agree with Jim Nugent (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
To me, it is much more about betrayal. The LIV players first betrayed their friends, then the PGA Tour that gave them an opportunity to make millions, and then they betrayed the sponsors. Let us not forget the charities that they betrayed.
All this to work for murderous thugs.
Will you ever forget where you were on 9/11? I know I won’t.
Charlie Miller
Westport, Connecticut
What choice does LIV Golf have but to appear oblivious to the damage it tried to inflict on professional golf? The truth hurts. Jim Nugent’s article was spot-on (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
I suspect there is a lot of regret on the LIV tour than we hear about. The PGA Tour is just fine without the defectors. Let the LIV golfers languish in their exhibition golf heaven.
Keith McIntyre
Statesboro, Georgia
I get the impression that Jim Nugent still might be in that resentful rut in which Rory McIlroy was stuck for months following the original move by many golfers to LIV (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
McIlroy and many other early haters have walked back those early sentiments and have assumed a positive mentality toward the imminent merger/consolidation, choosing to put the personal issues aside, knowing that it only hinders progress.
Doug Falkenberg
Henderson, Nevada
Spot-on, Jim Nugent (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). You captured all of our feelings post-Masters.
Mark Montgelas
Hobe Sound, Florida
The sense of entitlement stinks and, sadly, Jon Rahm has come out in his true colors (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Well done for calling them out.
David Williams
London, England
(Williams is the immediate past chairman of the DP World Tour.)
Excellent column by Jim Nugent about how tone deaf and greedy the LIV guys really are (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). Really well captured.
Mark Fletcher
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Why doesn’t Jim Nugent get off the kick-LIV bandwagon and talk about golf (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP)?
The game will be much better when they get back together, and rhetoric like Nugent’s is a stick stirring up the mud. The formation of LIV finally showed the disdain the PGA Tour had for its lower-tier players, and they finally had to do something to benefit them instead of the board and the top 25.
One reason why I rarely read this newsletter and definitely won’t subscribe is that columns such as Nugent’s take away from the game.
Garen Eggleston
The Villages, Florida
I couldn’t agree more with Jim Nugent regarding LIV players and the double standards they espouse daily along with their “boss,” Greg Norman (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Also, choosing to wear LIV attire was in essence disrespectful, akin to wearing anything but whites at Wimbledon.
Interestingly, Augusta National officials asked Jason Day to remove that ridiculous and ghastly jumper, which he was glad to do. It’s a shame that they didn’t ask the LIV clan.
Kevin Reece
Norwich, Norfolk, England
Well done, Jim Nugent (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
I thought you might also mention the LIV uniforms their players all wore. The LIV logo was only slightly less prominent than the Masters. They made Jason Day take off that ugly sweater and should have asked the LIV boys to dial it back on the ridiculous promo gear.
Jeff Grady
Quincy, Florida
Bravo to Jim Nugent for his article (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). A square hit on the nail, for sure.
The arrogance of LIV’s Greg Norman and the whining of the defectors becomes more and more tiring with each iteration.
I am aghast at their attitude and the mockery the LIV format makes of our great game.
I am sure Bobby Jones and many others spin in their graves seeing these guys walking the Augusta National Golf Club grounds.
Thanks for telling it like it is.
Jeff Sauers
Leland, North Carolina
Thanks, Jim Nugent, for the reminder about Bryson DeChambeau being one who had sued the PGA Tour, the organization that gave him the platform to show off and shine (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP). It’s the organization that has enshrined all of the best golfers of all-time and keeps the history of the game alive and well. What has LIV done for golf? I’m waiting … still waiting.
The ridiculous notion of comparing 72-hole tournaments with cuts for the very best players to earn spots each week versus the loud, 54-hole, no-cut, no-viewership brand is an affront to every true golf enthusiast. You can have LIV, but it’s not professional golf.
Donna Gravel
Naples, Florida
I’m a golf fan and I find the truly biased position that Jim Nugent is taking to be less than helpful for the future of the game (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
If all Nugent does is tout the position of how bad the LIV players have been, how can he not also denigrate the position of many of the top 50 that the purses needed to be bigger and more of the revenues of the PGA Tour distributed to the top players via the Player Impact Program, limited-field no-cut events and media rights. It seems to me that the greed Nugent decries is plentiful with the PGA Tour, as well.
Jack Nicklaus, et al., disrupted the PGA Tour in the 1960s to get more money and control of the tournaments, and LIV has done much the same thing. I see no difference in the outcome: more money to the players overall. It resembles the effect free agency had on baseball. The general tone of the pundits at the time was that the players were greedy, but they don’t seem to flinch when a $700 million-plus contract gets written today.
All things change over time, even golf, as uncomfortable as it may be.
Mark Robason
Christoval, Texas
I agree with Jim Nugent’s point of view (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
I also thought it was crass of most of the LIV players showing up with their LIV team logos plastered all over their bags and attire. I didn’t see a single PGA Tour logo anywhere.
Greg Burris
I really liked Jim Nugent’s column about LIV players at the Masters (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
It disgusts me to see them play with loyal PGA Tour members on the same stage. They should not be given the privilege.
The PGA Tour should outright ignore LIV and never reach any sort of “merger” with the defectors.
Lee Ponton
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia
Bull’s-eye (“LIV’s stunning lack of self-awareness,” April 15 GGP).
Thank you, Jim Nugent, for speaking for millions of grassroots golfers who see it the same way you do.
LIV is a cancer on the game.
Ron Garland
Prescott Valley, Arizona
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