Why wouldn’t LPGA players be interested in a LIV model for them (“Americans take titles; Aussies win party,” April 24 GGP)? The LPGA doesn’t have the deep pockets of the PGA Tour. Only a handful of LPGA players are making some real money, and they’re doing that with endorsements. They’re not getting rich from their tour. In fact, Grace Kim won $300,000 for her victory at the recent Lotte Championship (“Rookie Grace Kim fills Chevron with win,” April 17 GGP). That same weekend, assuming the standard 10-percent payout, Matt Fitzpatrick’s caddie made $360,000 at the RBC Heritage (“Fitz finishes HHI family vacation plot,” April 17 GGP).
Meanwhile the PGA Tour has created a tiered system that lucratively rewards its best players. The tour created a social-media bonus pool, which paid out $100 million last year. It also created a partnership with the DP World Tour. (Think maybe that tour’s ownership of 60 percent of the Ryder Cup had anything to do with that?)
But other than a 32-player mixed-team event that will debut in December, the PGA Tour has created no alliance with the LPGA. Haven’t Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and the others made enough that they don’t need all that bonus-pool money? If the tour shared half of that with the LPGA, wouldn’t that go a long way to “grow the game” that everyone talks about? But the PGA Tour and its players would never agree to it. Greed.
So, when Greg Norman and LIV create a women’s tour, don’t be surprised and don’t hate the women who jump.
Charlie Jurgonis
Fairfax, Virginia
The PGA Tour continues to make dreadful decisions in response to LIV Golf. Upping the prize money in certain events merely has diluted the quality of the field in the other events.
Sportsmen always have been guns for hire, and historically they will play where the prize money is highest. In golf, that has meant the PGA Tour until LIV’s debut last year. The top American golfers rarely have played in Europe at prestigious national championships such as the French and Italian opens because they would rather get a fatter paycheck and FedEx Cup points playing such events as the Valspar, Honda or last week’s Wells Fargo.
Players who have stayed loyal to the PGA Tour talk about legacy, and yet they would rather play the Wells Fargo, formerly the Wachovia, established in 2003, than the Italian Open, one of the oldest championships in golf, first played in 1925, with the last American winner being Billy Casper in 1975. The prize money at the Wells Fargo was $20 million. The prize money at the Italian Open was $3.25 million. So, it would appear that the “legacy” being talked about is the PGA Tour legacy, not the legacy of winning historic events around the world.
Now, the PGA Tour will welcome the top 10 on the DP World Tour money list every year, further diluting the quality of the European Tour. In theory, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour are partners, but what a joke that is. The European Tour continues to be a feeder tour for the PGA Tour, similar to the Korn Ferry Tour.
The PGA Tour has been taking the best players from around the world, gradually eroding golf as a spectacle on the rest of the planet by paying more money to its participants, and LIV has challenged the status quo. For that, I am not disappointed. I don't blame the players for wanting to play on the PGA Tour, where the money is, and now, I don't blame them for playing on the LIV tour for the same reason. Let's lose the hypocrisy by suggesting this is about anything other than cash.
In regards to speeding up the game, Steve Harmon’s commentary is 100 percent correct (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP). Individual players should be penalized in strokes and not fined behind closed doors. I would recommend a randomly selected number of groups to be clandestinely put on the clock in each event, and any player with an accumulative time deemed to be in excess of what is acceptable penalized by shots. This would have the effect of speeding up the whole field, as no one would be sure whether he was being timed or not.
Bill Tickner
Cambridge, England
Great column with the comparison to Major League Baseball (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP).
Golf is more agonizing. Players play the same course four times in a tournament, with pin placement the only real change each day. They all have their own yardage books, which detail every little nuance of each hole. There aren’t any real surprises that pop up that require an agonizing study for the next shot. They all know exactly how far they hit each club in the bag.
Shorten the times a player has to look for an errant shot caused frequently by the tee-shot axiom, “Hit it as far as you can, and then go find it.” Also, get on with the putting. There are way too many takes and double takes during the setup process. Once a player has looked at the putt, reads his notes, steps up and sets up, he should have to putt. No more set and reset.
I have played this game for more than 50 years and know it is a difficult game to play well, but playing a five-hour round isn’t going to make you a better player than you are at four hours. Sure, the professionals are playing for a lot of money, but everyone is playing for the same amount on the same course. Get on with it.
Bill Shauman
Kalamazoo, Michigan
I enjoyed Steve Harmon’s baseball/golf comparison regarding slow play (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP).
Unfortunately, I don't think that the PGA Tour has the guts to actually do something about a problem that it knows has existed for many years.
Bob Brewer
Vero Beach, Florida
I agree with Steve Harmon 100 percent (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP). And if I am not mistaken, professional baseball players play baseball for a living, just as golfers play golf for a living. I guess that shoots that theory out of the water pretty quickly.
I constantly see relatively new (and some old) players do exactly the same thing as the pros do on TV. They don’t even think about the shot until they get to the ball, and then take enormous amounts of time to decide what to hit, pull a club, address the ball and then take eight or 10 practice swings before blading it 50 feet down the fairway or slicing it into the woods.
Darrell Early
Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania
Thanks for singling out Patrick Cantlay (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP).
I would also say that the livelihoods of baseball players, coaches and owners are also at stake. That is precisely what led to speeding up the game.
Keith Curd
Nashville, Tennessee
A hit out of the park (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP).
I actually tuned in to LIV instead of the PGA Tour event in Mexico because I got to see a whole lot more shots by different guys and a playoff in less time than I could watch the final nine holes of leaders in a tour event.
The PGA Tour needs to do something, but as long as the slow guys have a huge voice, it will never change. If viewers stop watching, maybe there can be a change.
Here in my home of The Villages, scorecards have times listed on each hole and total 4 hours and 20 minutes, which is at least 30 minutes too long. Fellows I know and play alongside can be a hole behind and will quickly state, “No matter. We’re on time,” which I find ridiculous.
The ambassadors always respond to questions about pace by stating they’re on time.
It’s about time. Owners, operators and boards should take a stand and make it important to get moving. It will generate more rounds, more sales in the snack bar and grills and less grief from the offended parties.
I doubt that anything will happen in my lifetime.
Garen Eggleston
The Villages, Florida
I totally agree that players should be put on notice and penalties given for slow play (“MLB’s new pitch would be a hit for tour,” May 1 GGP).
When the PGA Tour endorses slow play, it makes its way to amateur play and ruins the game for many of us as we stand and wait to hit each shot because the group ahead mimics what they see on TV.
Tim Sanderson
Sidney, British Columbia
Global Golf Post welcomes reader comment. Write to executive editor Steve Harmon at saharmon83@gmail.com and provide your full name, city, state and country of residence. If your comment is selected for publication, GGP will contact you to verify the authenticity of the email and confirm your identity. We would not publish your email address. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and brevity.