Remember golf’s good old days when the distance debate consumed us?
When white belts were all the rage?
When Tiger Woods lit up the internet with his playing, not his caddying?
It wasn’t that long ago, but it seems longer than an uphill 245-yard par-3 into the wind.
As disruptive and disappointing as the professional game’s civil war has become this year, it seems more likely than ever that no resolution is coming.
What we have now – the PGA Tour with its history, its elevated events and its stars on one side and LIV Golf with its money and its intention to reshape the sport on the other – appears to be what we will have for the foreseeable future.
There are no backroom negotiations. No compromises being floated. No olive-branched 5-irons being offered.
“I don't want a fractured game. I never have. You look at some other sports and what's happened, and the game of golf is ripping itself apart right now and that's no good for anyone.”
RORY McILROY
All that was offered last week was a lawsuit filed by the PGA Tour alleging that LIV Golf interfered with existing contracts between the tour and its players. LIV reportedly told players that tour rules, including suspensions, were not enforceable. The PGA Tour subsequently suspended every player who joined LIV Golf.
The lines have been drawn, and there’s no eraser to be found.
Rory McIlroy made news last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – his press conferences have become must-listen moments – when he wished for a resolution while acknowledging it’s not likely to happen any time soon.
“I don't want a fractured game. I never have. You look at some other sports and what's happened, and the game of golf is ripping itself apart right now and that's no good for anyone,” McIlroy said. “It's no good for the guys on this side or the sort of traditional system and it's no good for the guys on the other side, either. It's no good for anyone.”
McIlroy is right again.
He also knows that doesn’t change the reality of the moment. The professional game is in a messy, contentious place.
Greg Norman, CEO and chief provocateur of LIV Golf, recently said his group has “no interest” in discussing a truce with the PGA Tour. LIV Golf is barreling toward the conclusion of its first season with an event this week in Bangkok, Thailand, another next week in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a $50 million season finale at Trump Doral later this month.
LIV is also reportedly close to a television deal with Fox Sports requiring Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to invest millions more to buy the time the way knife and makeup companies do for their infomercials.
Similarly, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan remains bullish on moving forward, showing no public interest in any potential reconciliation with players who left for LIV’s millions. He also shows no inclination to talk with LIV officials about a co-joined path forward, a message he has consistently conveyed.
The PGA Tour is being sued by LIV Golf, and the trial is more than a year away. Now the tour has countersued.
The DP World Tour is also facing a LIV court case that won’t be heard until early next year.
The parties have gone to their respective corners.
“There is a time and a place for (discussions),” McIlroy said. “I just think right now, with where everything is, it's probably not the right time. But saying that, I don't think we can let it go too much longer. So, I'm all for everyone sitting around the table and trying to figure something out, for sure.”
Can the two sides meet somewhere in the middle?
Not with Norman serving as the voice and face of LIV Golf. He is viewed like a corporate raider (using the Saudis’ money), intent on damaging what made him the world-famous personality he became.
It won’t change if Norman is replaced by someone else. Monahan has made that clear. The PGA Tour isn’t interested in doing business for a foreign government, which is what LIV is doing.
Norman argues he’s building a start-up business – that’s a stretch – and his commitment to his cause seems genuine. He is standing behind what he is selling, even if it’s not a product the public has sought. It remains a curiosity more than a competitive league, weighted by the Saudis’ human-rights record.
It has forced change within the PGA Tour, primarily to the benefit of the players, some of which was coming anyway. Monahan has been criticized for underestimating LIV’s impact, but it’s a largely unfair characterization.
Monahan sensed what was coming, sounded the alarms and had others suggest the threat wasn’t as impactful as it has been.
When the then-European Tour sanctioned the Saudi International tournament in 2019, it was seen as opening the game in a new, lucrative market. But for the three years it was a sanctioned tour event, representatives who wound up with LIV were actively recruiting players for the new enterprise, eventually setting up shop in south Florida to continue their recruiting.
Now the professional game has become a tug of war. The PGA Tour operates from a position of strength while LIV Golf continues to bang the drum for change, pushing the notion the Official World Golf Ranking should bend to its demands rather than agreeing to abide by the rules that have been in place for decades.
The PGA Tour will look dramatically different in 2023, with the top players set to play together more often. It’s a big, impactful change, and whether LIV prompted it or not, the tour is getting better.
If the players who left the PGA Tour didn’t fully understand the implications of their decision, that’s on them (and their well-compensated managers who pushed some moves). LIV is also finding it harder to deliver on the assurances it made to players.
Having added its name to the lawsuit originally filed by former players against the PGA Tour, LIV Golf seems intent on seeing the case through. It will have a bigger schedule next year with more emphasis on its team concept (where there is a perceived return on investment for the PIF), and being available over traditional television can’t hurt.
A resolution would mean both sides giving up something.
LIV Golf isn’t there yet and, if Norman’s comments are sincere, it has no interest in finding common ground. It’s also fair to ask whether the top officials at LIV ever actually called Monahan directly to ask for an audience with him.
The PGA Tour has made its position clear. There is nothing to talk about. Norman has said something similar.
“There's a natural timeline here to let temperatures just sort of settle down a little bit and people can maybe go into those mediations with cooler heads and not be so emotional about it all,” McIlroy said last week.
Don’t expect that to happen any time soon, if ever.
Top: The PGA Tour's Jay Monahan (left) and LIV Golf's Greg Norman
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