Wake me up when someone currently of consequence abandons the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Or when Saudi Arabia’s naked play to burnish its affinity for murder and other human rights abuses draws more eyeballs than cat videos and makeup tutorials.
Until then, this existential threat to the PGA Tour is nothing more than golf’s equivalent of spoiled frat boys cheating their way to a degree at what the smart kids consider their safety school.
The news that Brooks Koepka will join LIV Golf beginning with next week’s event at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon set off a fresh round of angst Tuesday among those forecasting doom and gloom for the PGA Tour. Koepka is a four-time major champion, and his “rivalry” with Bryson DeChambeau had the internet buzzing throughout much of 2021.
And yet … for all Koepka has done in the past, he’s largely become indistinguishable from most of the other guys on the PGA Tour now. His lone win in the last three seasons was 16 months ago, and he has more missed cuts this season (six) than he has top-25 finishes (four). Once a threat on Sunday afternoon at every major, he didn’t even crack the top 50 at the first three this year.
In that way, Koepka is like the rest of the LIV crowd. After years of challenging himself week in and week out against the game’s best, on the most iconic courses, he’s decided the cash grab and easy life of a celebrity golfer is more his speed now.
Which is why LIV will never be the threat the Saudis and Greg Norman envision it to be.
“I haven’t really noticed anyone missing this week. Maybe outside of (Dustin Johnson),” world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said at the RBC Canadian Open, which went head-to-head with LIV’s first big event, played outside London.
Yes, the PGA Tour will have to change some of the ways it does business. Re-imagining the fall schedule to include eight, limited-field, big-purse events is a good start. Appearance fees…
Source : yahoo
