Miami: The Masters stands as an indefensible symbol of the tradition and values of golf, but next week’s event at Augusta National will not be immune to the effects of all the losses the sport has experienced.
The rift in the professional game between the established PGA Tour and the upstart, Saudi-made LIV Golf League has led to more than two years of litigation and rough and tumble conditions for players.
Members of the Augusta National Committee focus on the honor of competing for the green jacket and a place in history, with the commercial side of the game hidden from view.
Golf has been talking money since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund began defrauding players with multi-million dollar contracts.
The PGA Tour’s response to LIV’s challenge is to increase the prize money for its players, seek to invest big money in itself and join the tournament structure.
But hearing players constantly talk about money and sports politics in both and it’s unnerving for many fans, some of whom have already quit.
“If you look at the PGA Tour TV ratings this year, they’re down 20 percent across the board,” said Rory McIlroy, who was instrumental in the tour’s immediate pushback against LIV. more conciliatory tone.
“This is the fifth. It’s big. I wouldn’t say it’s big in LIV in terms of numbers. I just think with the fight and what happened in the last few years, people are really getting tired and it’s driving people away from men’s golf. , which is good for no one. no,” the Northern Ireland added this week.
The Masters, the most watched event in golf’s four majors, will buck that trend, and Sunday’s finale is the fixture on the American sports calendar for a long time.
But that doesn’t mean the ‘golf war’ won’t have an impact.
Last year’s tournament, when LIV players were lined up against former PGA Tour competitors in August and appeared to be an unofficial “shootout” event, the strong showing of LIV players became a popular story.
LIV players Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson battled for the title, and 12 of the 18 “challengers” who made the cut made the cut, with three in the top ten.
To the relief of the head of the PGA Tour, Mickelson and Koepka tied for second in the green jacket with fellow tour star John Rahm from Spain.
Rahm is back to defend his title, but the surprise trip will be one of the 13-man LIV contingent after inking a deal worth between $300 million and $600 million in December.
So now LIV players will host the traditional Champions Dinner at the course clubhouse on Tuesday evening.
Thankfully for those involved, tensions between the two camps have eased somewhat since the end of the walkouts and lawsuits announced in June.
While there have been few signs of real progress towards a merger, at least the feud between the players has largely ended.
LIV golfers playing in the Miami event at Doral this week spoke optimistically about golf after the split.
“I think golf will be more global where the best players travel more, in a state of transition that brings competition and a lot of disruption and change,” the three-time Masters said. champion Mickelson.
“When the irons disappear, I think (golf) will be in a better place … but now we’re in a transition period … it’s tough when we go through it. But we’ll go,” he said.
It remains to be seen whether all the players are ready to join McIlroy and Mickelson in the spirit of a new rapprochement, but the two camps still have a lot to sort out for the corner of Amin and the rest of the weekend in Georgia. .
However, when our golf brokers gather for the Azalea cocktail, the arrival of Saudi Arabian golf will not be far from the conversation, even if it is frowned upon by the club’s hierarchy.
