The sport of professional golf has split in the two years since the creation of LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed tour has lured many stars away from the PGA Tour, including reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm.
Many golfers on the rival circuit have expressed no interest in ever coming back. But Bryson DeChambeau has a completely different take.
The former US Open champion feels strongly after reading the tea leaves: unification is necessary. He shared the details ahead of the LIV Golf event at Trump National Doral in Miami.
⛳️ #transaction Or no contract? — Bryson DeChambeau said people are “losing interest” in golf and a deal “needs to happen quickly” for the good of the sport. From a player’s perspective, I think we need to come back… pic.twitter.com/QWbFymXYni
— NUCLR Golf (@NUCLRGOLF) April 3, 2024
“…from a player’s perspective, first and foremost we need to come together for the fans. The fans are what makes this sport go. You can’t play golf without the fans…There has to be a way to come together. How it comes together is a priority for all of us here.”
He not only expressed the desire and need for change, but also emphasized immediacy.
“We can’t keep going in this direction, so it’s up to upper management to understand that and resolve it quickly. It’s not sustainable,” DeChambeau said.
“It’s great to have major tournaments where we get together, but we want to compete, at least I want to compete every week against arguably all the best players in the world…and that needs to happen quickly. Yes, it’s not about two years. Just like in order to improve sports, it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Too many people are losing interest.”
In fact, TV ratings are down for most of this year’s PGA Tour tournaments, some by a lot. It didn’t help that this was the season for first-time Tour winners.
Of course, LIV Golf has never been notable for that either.
Golf fans are tired of hearing all about the money players are making. They wonder if a merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will happen.
Despite this, negotiations between the two countries appeared to have stalled. That was until Tiger Woods finally met with Saudi Public Investment Fund President Yasir al-Rumayyan.
Let’s hope DeChambeau is right and something is done soon. Or maybe professional golf wakes up and finds itself eerily similar to tennis, where only four weeks a year really matter.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
