It appears that Greg Norman and his Saudi enablers thought they could win this case in a minute or two (“What do the Saudis want?” April 10 GGP). They wanted to hand-pick with giant contracts the best of the best and then have the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour run the everyday events while LIV ran its 12-14 events, plus the four majors. They must have also thought the existing tours would just roll over after the finest golfers all left to collect their millions in guaranteed earnings. Sounds like Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine. What? They fought back.
I am happy to see that the existing tours are winning the latest fights. Perhaps the Saudis may tire of this waste of their money. It may be time for the two to figure a way to send Norman away, bring back the players to their original tours and allow the Saudis to walk away with their pride bruised but not beaten. I get that the players, for various reasons that made sense to them and others simply by the amount of wealth they suddenly acquired, made the decision to run to LIV, but to sue the hand that fed them just was all wrong. If they wanted to go, then go. Could they have been so naïve as to think that the PGA and DP World tours would just say, OK? Did Norman lie to them and convince their lawyers that they could win?
Time will tell, but it appears that LIV is struggling to get enough traction. I hope they go away, but we’ll all have to stay tuned perhaps for another year or two. The Saudis do have a lot of cash.
Art Williams
Luzerne, Pennsylvania
The LIV contingent of players at the Masters performed well. Brooks Koepka played way above the field of players for three days (“Koepka reaffirms major ability,” April 10 GGP). Phil Mickelson surprised everyone, and even himself (“Augusta brings out best in Mickelson,” April 10 GGP).
Good for the LIV players. Let their talent speak for itself (“Tensions ease as LIV players produce,” April 10 GGP).
If prior LIV marketing initiatives hold true, this good showing by the LIV guys may offer Greg Norman the opportunity to make a statement and bang the drum that the tournament protocol of LIV is validated. And he will continue to lobby for equality on Official World Golf Ranking points even though the LIV format is a totally different product from PGA Tour tournaments. And perhaps a mildly disturbing ancillary benefit is that it creates a recruiting opportunity for additional PGA Tour players to head for LIV.
A speculation here: To further market the LIV league, the brashness of LIV leadership might also look forward to rejecting the proposed reduced-flight ball (“Whole new ball game,” March 20 GGP). I envision the new LIV slogan and advertising will feature “Golf, but louder and longer.”
Dave Richner
St. Johns, Florida
Great results (“DP World Tour tastes vindication vs. LIV,” April 10 GGP). Now give them the cold shoulder. They made their bed, and now they can lie on it.
Gary Stewart
Naas, Ireland
I don’t understand what the problem is with rolling back the ball (“Whole new ball game,” March 20 GGP).
On the PGA Tour side, if they want to roll it back 10 percent so that the 320-yard guys hit it 290, it also means the 285 guys will hit it 260. The long hitters still would have an advantage. It also would bring hitting fairways more into play. Now, if a long hitter’s 320-yard drive on a 475-yard hole misses the fairway, he’s hitting a 155-yard pitching wedge. With the reduced ball, that same drive of 290 yards leaves 185 yards to the green. That 150-yard wedge goes only 135. He has to hit a 6- or 7-iron out of the rough to cover the 185 yards.
The shorter hitter must hit fairways. Otherwise he’s hitting a 215-yard fairway wood out of the rough.
And what’s the difference between making a ball that goes 30 yards less in distance and increasing the yardage on the 13th hole at Augusta by 35 yards?
On the recreation side, just about every course has multiple sets of tees. If you no longer can handle your 6,500-yard course, move up to the 6,000-yard tees. In theory, you should be hitting the same clubs and shooting the same score.
Charlie Jurgonis
Fairfax, Virginia
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