The solution is simple: Don’t merge them (“Bridging the divide,” July 8 GGP).
The world does well with competition. The PGA Tour and European Tour have been different tours since their inception, and this has worked well – leading to the growth of a nice little event between just the two of them called the Ryder Cup.
A tour run by a king who acts like a self-proclaimed deity (and if you don’t think he will, in every practical sense, run it, then you are kidding yourself), is a complete disaster. The reason the PGA Tour is having issues with the merger now is because it didn’t recognize the folly in the effort in the first place. It will never be acceptable for a country with Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record to be in control of a major sport. The king has succeeded – he has shown that capitalists indeed have no character or conscience when it comes to money, and he has the players who have signed up to prove it. This evidence is extremely valuable to him in maintaining long-term control of his subjects and making a mockery of societies that attempt to claim the moral high ground.
The PGA Tour simply needs to be a leader and just say no. Rebuild its integrity – the sport it manages has more of it than any other – and get back to doing what it does well: giving to charity.
Let the players who took the money keep their money, grow up, and accept the consequences they knew would result.
End of story.
Eric Hjortness
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
This is a terrific summary by Ron Green (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP).
I started caddying as a high school junior, as did my three brothers, and was a caddiemaster for 100 young men while in college in the early 1960s. I have been playing the game for 66 years and counting, with a 15 handicap from the front men’s tees this year. I am among the mostly un-franchised when it comes to watching golf tournaments today. I set a viewing time for the big ones, like this month’s Open, and maybe catch a few holes on weekends, but no more setting times to watch, for sure.
Green makes the point that some, like me, find the greed that has swamped professional golf to be appalling. He rightly cites the disdain for those who support the game by paying to attend, by taking advertising space, by buying merchandise that fills ego-driven players’ wallets, and by simply being engaged with the sport. That makes no sense, but egos don’t allow insights into how that hurts the culture of the game that I and others like me grew up with.
I don’t think it is jingoism to factor into my thinking that the trillions of dollars that have been spent by Saudi Arabia to launch a series of 54-hole tournaments and kids’ games aimed at disassembling an American golfers’ association aren’t worth a pitcher of warm spit when it comes to any integrity of purpose. As long as I can swing a club and walk and play with friends, I’ll have all the golf I need to feel whole about the game.
Tom Mulvoy
Walpole, Massachusetts
I find the LIV format much more enjoyable to watch vs. the PGA Tour format (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP).
It just looks like the LIV players are having a lot more fun. And these players are making a lot more money and playing a lot fewer tournaments than those on the PGA Tour. LIV plays only 14 three-day tournaments. The PGA Tour plays 39 four-day tournaments. That’s a big difference.
LIV appears to offer a better quality of life (more family time, less chance of injury, world travel), and I feel LIV offers more to the players (team play) than does the PGA Tour. I do enjoy the team aspect of LIV.
There are maybe a dozen or so PGA Tour golfers whom I really enjoy watching, including Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg. I’m tired of watching the PGA Tour announcers continue to promote Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth in every event they play, only to watch them play subpar rounds. It’s like the PGA Tour announcers want to show only these players when many others are playing much better golf in the tournament.
LIV has Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, team play that adds to the excitement, and LIV is noisy. The LIV tournaments show so many more golfers playing, and I’m sure this is due to the team format.
I really enjoy LIV golf.
Ray Henschen
Spring Hill, Florida
I am 66 years old and have watched televised golf since I was 5. I have not watched a shot since the PGA Tour indicated its intent to partner with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. I simply can’t fathom the allure of watching a bunch of employees of the Saudi government participate in a sporting event when the explicit purpose is simply to divert attention away from a murderous dictatorship (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP).
I certainly miss what used to be, but they have burned their bridges and made their beds. The only solution that would lure me back is if a group of players splits off with the stated intent not to take the Saudi blood money. Otherwise, good riddance to all of them.
Lee Niegelsky
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
I still don’t see the LIV tour as a valid professional concept when comparing it to the PGA Tour and other sports (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP).
To me, LIV is a parlor game, being played at the whim of the Saudi elite. There would be no way for this kind of league to exist without the Saudis and their deep, oil-rich pockets. To presume that it is OK to the fans to play only 54 holes in a tournament, and only 14 events a year, is preposterous. Golf is already burdened by the view that it is a game for the rich, which it isn’t in spite of the dearth of low-cost opportunities for many aspiring low- and middle-income participants. So, the vast majority of golfers would find it hard to relate to a league where the players walk for three days, get paid millions of dollars, and work only 14 weeks out of the year. Doesn’t make sense.
Soccer (football) is played year around. Baseball and American football have grueling schedules. And so on.
The PGA Tour, as it is now, is a grind for most players, to which common folk can relate. And I believe that the two majors won by LIV golfers (Brooks Koepka’s 2023 PGA and Bryson DeChambeau’s 2024 U.S. Open) were lost by other golfers and not so much won by the eventual victors. Two players hitting a 9-iron into the face of a bunker at the PGA was a rare event which allowed Koepka to win. And Rory McIlroy missing two short puts in three holes at the U.S. Open is also quite unusual.
Overall, LIV golfers have not performed well when they have come back to compete among PGA Tour players, and the so-called star players have not dominated their own league.
As a fan, I am fine with the PGA Tour the way it is except for one thing: the FedEx Cup final. Once those 30 players get into the last event, it should be a free-for-all, with no handicapping whatsoever. Winner take all. The Super Bowl, the World Series, the World Cup, professional tennis, and in every other professional sport, the event doesn’t care about records or how one got there. The only thing that matters is that you got there and whether you’re good enough on that day (or days) to win.
Robert Salas
Austin, Texas
Ron Green is spot on with this editorial (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP).
There are some things in life that just need to evolve very slowly, and sports are all in that category. The whole LIV golf thing is simply too radical of a change. I hate it and never watch it. Tell me another sport that has ever made such radical changes in format. And the fact that LIV used money to start it by stealing some of the best PGA Tour players makes me sick. The fact that it was Saudi money makes it even worse.
Saudi Arabia is the last country that comes to mind when thinking about golf. LIV should be called something other than golf. That way, players can choose which they want to play and be best at.
People need to ask themselves what would happen with baseball, basketball and football if some entity with Saudi-like money came along and started a league with LIV-like radical format changes. Baseball with only six innings? Basketball with a four-point line? Football where you can pass all over the field? Give me a break.
Paul Staab
Syracuse, New York
LIV and the PGA Tour make me sick (“Compromise or coexist,” July 8 GGP). They are a bunch of corporations running around the world and trying to convince everyone that what they are doing is for the good of the game.
I very rarely watch golf anymore. Every time a LIV player is in a major or a field on the other tours, I openly hope that he falls flat on his face.
This whole situation is pure greed in which the chosen few get fat and happy, and we as fans lose in the end.
Thank God that Golf Channel has aired college golf and other world tour events. That is all I need.
Goodbye to all of them.
Steve Nardi
Ocean View, Delaware
When I first moved to Florida in 1998, I could purchase a ticket to the Players Championship at any Publix for $35. My buddy and I would drive 20 miles to the course and park for free.
No longer. Because of the great increase in ticket sales, one now purchases parking in advance and must have four in the car, or you park miles away and a bus takes you over. No food, backpacks, chairs and other restrictions. And the tickets are sold online at prices I find too high for me, just like other sports. Golf may want to consider limiting purses to $8 million.
I stay home. The televised coverage is superb, repeats great shots, and allows me to see lots more players. I avoid all the cost, muss and fuss, and possible weather. TV advertisers need not worry for the Players.
Jon Haas
Orange Park, Florida
Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open, and Richard Bland won the U.S. Senior Open. Both play on the LIV tour.
I guess playing in 54-hole events hasn’t caused a decline in their skills.
Charlie Jurgonis
Fairfax, Virginia
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