Before a golf shot was hit in anger ahead of the 122nd US Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Brooks Koepka – a player who has allowed the Majors to define his career – threw out a comment about the perceived agenda of questioning which focused in on the start-up LIV Golf Series that had won over defectors from both the PGA Tour and the European Tour.
“You are all throwing this black cloud over the US Open,” said Koepka, his tone accusatory of the line in questioning that persisted in coming his way, even as someone – as yet – who has resisted the lure of the filthy lucre.
Koepka’s response didn’t quite dispel matters, but it did quell things, and, for the most part, the championship played its way through the four days with the focus on golf as it should be.
After all, the US Open is the second oldest of the four men’s Majors, with The Open the original of the species, and absolutely deserved to be the centre of attention in its own backyard.
But the LIV issue hasn’t gone away. Far from it, in fact. And while the rumour mill has been flourishing with possible names of who may be set to jump ship (to join Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch, Graeme McDowell and others who have been swayed by the Saudi Arabia-backed, moneyed tour), confirmations are expected to arrive in the coming days about others defecting, with a moratorium of sorts placed on matters during the US Open.
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Out of respect to the US Open, those players considering a move to LIV have kept their counsel. That is set to change. The clouds could darken again over the traditional circuits if, as rumoured, a number of younger players currently inside the world’s top 20 move to LIV.
The PGA Tour has taken a strong stance in suspending 17 players from membership, although a number of them – including McDowell – had resigned before such a decision was made; while others – including Ian Poulter – have said they will challenge that suspension through legal routes.
Whichever way the plot twists, it is all a mess.
The DP World Tour – aka the European Tour – has not, as yet, imposed any sanctions or suspensions on its members who have so far defected to the LIV circuit, which has offered lucrative signing-on fees and the lure of prizemoney (a minimum of $4 million to the winner at each of its eight tournaments this year).
The next event is in Portland, Oregon, next week which unfortunately is a direct clash with the Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet. McDowell will be in the USA, as will others who would have been expected to be in Co Kilkenny.
Keith Pelley, the chief executive of the European Tour, has admitted that many players who have remained loyal have questioned why he, or the tour, has not followed the example of the PGA Tour and suspended defectors.
The rationale for requiring more time, according to Pelley in a statement, is “because of the complexity of our situation,” adding that the tour’s position will be clarified next Thursday (June 23rd) following “discussion with our board about the precise nature of any potential sanctions to be imposed on members who have breached our regulations.”
Delaying making a decision on possible sanctions to work out such “complexities” has bought the European Tour more time but that’s about it, as Thursday is also the closing date for entries into the Scottish Open (which takes place on July 7th-10th) which is a co-sanctioned event on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour and at which the PGA Tour’s imposed sanctions are in play.
What’s increasingly clear is that the fracturing of the men’s professional golfing landscape will have grown by then, with tournaments like the Irish Open (which has seen a massive injection in prize money by new title sponsor Horizon Therapeutics this year to €5.7million) already affected in terms of the quality of the field.
Interestingly, one of the more pointed observations of all directed to those who have moved to LIV came from an influential New York financier rather than actual tour leaders.
Jimmy Dunne, a member of Augusta National and president of Seminole Golf Club, is a friend of Dustin Johnson, who has defected to the Greg Norman-headed LIV, and also of Rory McIlroy, who has been the PGA Tour’s most articulate defender.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Dunne observed: “I don’t like it when they say they’re ‘growing the game’. That’s crap. I don’t even like it when they say ‘I have to do what’s best for my family’. I really wonder how many of those guys, the lifestyle that they were living was so horrible that their family needed them to do this. Just say, ‘I’m at a point in my career where I (want to) make five times as much money against much weaker competition and play less’. Just tell the truth.”
Dunne is right. But it also seems that, whatever their versions of the truth might be, those who have made the move to LIV know the consequences and that those who follow also know the path which they have chosen. Sanctions and suspensions may be a deterrent, but not the answer, and the drip-drip of players to feed LIV would indicate its arrival is more substantial than a mere thorn in the sides of the more established tours.
The moratorium of the past few days is expected to be lifted in the coming days to inflict further pain on the traditional forces.
