So Much for the PGA-LIV Golf Peace Treaty. Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter Say More Tour Players are Ready to Jump Ship for That Saudi Money.
I don't know what it is exactly about the drama around the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, but it just speaks to me. It truly has been one of the great dramas in sports of the last few decades, for reasons I can't quite articulate.
Wait a sec. Maybe I can put into words. One word, in fact.
Hypocrisy.
Yup, that's it. As compelling as it is when you're enjoying a chaotic leaderboard on Sunday on the back nine of a Major, there's also something wildly entertaining about filthy rich people fighting over the idea someone else is getting rich. The utter indignity of the PGA Tour management that anyone would go into competition with them. The golfers who joined LIV for the money awkwardly twisting themselves into verbal pretzels trying to convince the public they made the move for some other, altruistic reason. Business executives who grew up on country clubs with Unobtainium spoons in their mouths who paid for their third wife's fourth vacation mansion with cash they've gotten from their luxury brand corporate sponsors acting like they're appalled by the greed of others. Only for all of them to just suddenly sign an armistice agreement back in June. Vow to lay down their pens, call a truce in the spirit of fellowship and brotherhood. To just pretend like nothing ever happened, and no one ever accused anyone else of playing golf for blood money. It's been glorious to behold.
The good news for fans of this kind of insincere, dishonesty piousness is that the uneasy peace between the two sides appears to be falling apart already:
Source - The proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could reportedly be at risk of collapse, while several stars of the sport have been tipped to move to the controversial breakaway circuit. …
Within the 'framework agreement' between the parties at the time, there was a clause that while a deal was being discussed, LIV would not attempt to bring in any more stars from their rival tour.
However, that clause was scrapped when the US Department of Justice expressed concerns over the anti-competitive nature of it, meaning LIV could still add to its group of players which includes the likes of Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau.
And Mickelson - a six-time major winner - believes that despite ongoing discussions between the tours, there will be another huge exodus of star golfers to the breakaway circuit. …
'Do I think that (more players will jump ship to LIV)? No. I know that’s going to happen. When players look at LIV, they are wanting to be a part of it. …
He added: 'The reality is, I’ve been fielding calls, as we all have, from players who are free agents to PGA Tour players who want to come over. …
Poulter, who also defected to LIV last year, echoed Mickelson's calls and said it made sense for players to want to join the breakaway circuit.
'There will be a great deal of interest,' he said. 'I am not going to give any names, but we’ve been contacted about players wanting to join.
Bring. It. On.
Not that I'm a fan of LIV Golf by any stretch. It really doesn't seem like much of anybody is, given the fact they stopped releasing their TV ratings and one match that was coming down to the wire got pre-empted by CW so local stations could switch to Family Feud, infomercials, and wall-to-wall coverage of our country's wars over storage:
I don't know how this is all going to play out. Though I imagine eventually the people involved are going to sit down in a boardroom and figure out how to balance the obvious desire to make mountains of money with the needs of a pro sports leagues to reach an audience that gives a damn about their product and reach a deal. But until they do, if we get to enjoy frauds like the PGA Tour commissioner pretend he didn't wave the bloody shirt of 9/11 just to protect his phony baloney job, then we all win.