LIV golfers took the money and turned their back on the PGA Tour, make them pay to come back. All this talk about losing the stars of the game is crap. Jon Rahm and Bryson pocketed big money to be lured away from the established tours where they made their names in golf. Greg Norman was the face of this ruthless breakaway consortium and they deserve no favours from the existing tours. The PGA and the European Tour made these golfing stars and they continue to make new stars. The golf media want the established stars to be the story to make their jobs easier. The game demands new blood to flourish and the focus should be on moving on.
Make Returning LIV Golfers Pay To Come Back
Brookes Koepka is paying to come back, as is Patrick Reed. This should be the model if and when Rahm and Bryson make the decision to return to the PGA tour.
“The out-of-pocket cost is a $5m charity donation to be decided jointly with the tour. The financial repercussions – no access to equity or FedEx Cup bonus money this year – is a potential loss the tour puts at $50m and upward.”
LIV Golf was always a stretch and came with unfortunate baggage from Saudia Arabian money greenwashing its bloody heritage. It was, also, an attempt to cream off the top with no respects of the roots of elite golf. The Saudis spent some $5 billion on LIV Golf and have pulled the plug on an unprofitable investment going forward.
LIV By The Big Bucks. Pay Em To Return
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Take the LIV money, pay big money to come back to the tours you turned your back on.
I think about the elite golfers who stuck fast and loyal to the tours. I am sure they don’t want to see prodigal sons return without paying some real costs. No one is bigger than the game itself. Americans have trouble realising this, as they always bang on about the individual to the detriment of the collective. You cannot have a game without all the other players and the infrastructure that makes it all possible.
Prodigal Sons Must Pay To Return To The Fold
LIV golfers took the money and so they should pay to come back to the fold. And yes, maybe the upheaval, overall, has been better for the game of tour golf. The PGA has lifted its game to make things better for the competing players in response to the threat of LIV Golf. Going forward things may well be even better for top golfers and fans alike.
LIV History
“The LIV golf controversy has captured the attention of many golfers around the globe. Most of us are onlookers from social golf and clubland. The fans of professional tournament golf are enamoured of their golfing heroes. They know their names and have watched them play some amazing golf via TV coverage of championships. What the fans don’t know or understand is the business of professional tournament golf. We all wish we could play golf like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, and Rory McIlroy but we do not comprehend the reality of making a living from playing golf.”
- (https://www.golfdom.com.au/the-liv-golf-controversy/)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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