NORTH PLAINS, Ore. – Do you think the first shot was fired when Phil Mickelson said the PGA Tour uses “manipulative, coercive, strong tactics” and their commissioner Jay Monahan will not do the right thing “unless you have influence.”
Or it was when Monahan revoked gaming privileges for those who jumped to LIV Golf, and called Greg Norman’s venture “an irrational threat” and one that “doesn’t care about the return on investment or the game’s true growth.” did this get juicy…
And no more than good old-fashioned pettiness.
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As the inaugural event of the LIV Golf Series in the United States kicks off Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, the traditional league against the wild child continues to exchange insults and strategically coordinated announcements.
Monahan orchestrated the start of the inaugural LIV event in London by announcing that those playing in the Saudi-backed series have been suspended from the PGA Tour. That decision came as the entire field teeed off in LIV’s shotgun launch format.
LIV countered by welcoming Jupiter’s Brooks Koepka to his team at Monahan’s Travelers Championship press conference a week ago to announce that the PGA Tour would be raising the purse across multiple tournaments.
On Tuesday, as LIV introduced three of its newer members, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Matthew Wolff, at Pumpkin Ridge, Monahan announced that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are expanding and strengthening their alliance.
This becomes Duke vs. North Carolina. Elon Musk versus Jeff Bezos. Red Sox vs. Yankees. Ron DeSantis vs Science. All at odds with each other.
And make no mistake, LIV Golf has certainly caught the attention of the PGA Tour.
So what did some of the players who decided to leave the PGA Tour do? They started shooting back.
LIV Tour players hit back on PGA Tour
Like Pat Perez, the 46-year-old who makes no apologies for looking for more money while working less after 20 years and 515 years on the PGA Tour.
Perez took one look at the field of this week’s PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic, and it was like a mate in the water.
“The tour has been trying to pressure us all year and comes with bans and suspensions and all that,” he said. “And how did that work? Look how many people are here. That didn’t work at all. So the top threats and all that stuff, and how many big winners do you have here compared to John Deere? Isn’t it very close?
“The tour wants to keep talking about field strength… the field strength is there. So, whether everyone wants to talk about it or not, that’s what it is. Facts are facts.”
At least for this week, Perez is right. And it’s not close. John Deere lost its only top-50 player, No. 25 Jupiter’s Daniel Berger, who retired Monday with a back problem that has plagued him for most of this year. The event has just six of the top 100, led by No. 58 Webb Simpson.
But Perez needs to pump the breaks. The LIV event features eight players in the top 50, including No. 17 Dustin Johnson and No. 19 Koepka. Certainly not outstanding up to this point. But in Perez’s view, it dwarfs John Deere’s field.
Some players are no longer hiding their disgust at the PGA Tour and how it has dealt with the LIV threat. Some have responded by retiring from the tour; Including Dustin Johnson from Jupiter, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood and Charl Schwarzel from Palm Beach Gardens.
Some were asked what, if anything, the Tour could have done to stop players defecting.
“Listen to the players.” Said Reed.
“Could have at least taken the call from LIV Group,” Perez said. “At least take a meeting, see what the point is. Monahan just ruled it out from the start. Didn’t want to do a meeting, didn’t want to listen to anyone. Maybe (it) would have been a little bit different. … He doesn’t listen to them Player.”
Wednesday’s Word for Garcia, Westwood and Martin Kaymer: Communication.
“Transparency is a big thing,” Kaymer said. “It would have been great to evaluate all the options that all tours have and that we can all decide together that we as adults can sit down at a table, find a solution that is not just good for individuals, for the whole tour , for all members.”
Nobody knows what LIV Golf will look like in three years. Is this the AFL that forced a merger with the NFL? Or is that the original USFL that died after three seasons? (In a related article, the nearest US stop for LIV Golf is Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.)
Some of those who are now recording on the PGA Tour have not closed the door upon returning to the tour, if allowed to do so.
“I want to play on the PGA Tour,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not my decision whether I can play or not, but I would like to continue playing. We’ll see how it develops.”
Tom D’Angelo is a journalist with the Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at tdangelo@pbpost.com.