Jack Nicklaus has been professional golf’s most thoughtful voice for decades, offering his opinions and perspectives on a variety of subjects from course design to equipment advancements to rolling the golf ball.
But he wants no part in the current turmoil surrounding the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), the beneficiary of LIV Golf.
“I live in Florida now. I don’t get involved in pro golf issues,” Nicklaus said with a laugh on Tuesday.
“I’ve tried to stay out of what’s going on with Tour and LIV.”
When the Memorial Tournament gets underway on Thursday, play will begin on the one-year anniversary of the framework agreement established by the PGA Tour and PIF.
On June 6, 2023, the two sides agreed to drop their lawsuit and work to bring professional sports together again, setting a deadline of December 31, 2023 to reach an agreement, but that deadline passed with little progress.
“I think they’re working on it. But [the PGA Tour is] “I’m in pretty good hands,” Nicklaus said.
“A few months ago, I [PGA Tour Commissioner] Jay [Monahan] I reached out to Jay to talk about it. I said, “Jay, I’m a little concerned about what’s going on right now.” I said, “Are you OK or not?” And he said, “I’m OK.” I said, “That’s all you need to know. So, as far as I’m concerned, the tour is going to be OK and their issues will be resolved. I don’t know what that’s going to be.”
Nicklaus doesn’t want to get further involved — all he needs is a medical exam — and he’s still committed to the tour, given that he helped found the modern PGA Tour in 1968. His Memorial Tournament is one of the most highly-anticipated non-major tournaments each year, an event open only to PGA Tour members.
But he also has faith that his protégé, Tiger Woods, who joined the PGA Tour policy committee last August, can help guide things smoothly.
“Tiger’s got experience, he’s been playing for a long time, he won’t be playing for a long time, but he can still contribute,” Nicklaus said.
“I think it’s great that he wants to contribute and he wants to be a part of the team. I think it’s great that his teammates want him to contribute. So I’m happy to have him on the board. I think he’ll be a big contributor.”
However, Nicklaus, 84, made it clear he doesn’t pay attention to the day-to-day minutiae of the PGA Tour.
He has five children, 24 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, all of whom remain his priorities far beyond the Tour.
He still runs the Memorial Tournament in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, but hasn’t done much else in professional golf, even missing most of last year’s U.S. Open.
“I’m hoping to get in the thick of the Memorial Tournament and be a part of it,” Nicklaus said.
“I believe there are many people out there who are smarter and better than me when it comes to the issues in the sport of golf, and I trust they will work to solve them. I love the sport of golf and I want to see the sport of golf thrive and grow as we all have seen it do for a long time.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
