Getty Image / Christian Petersen
LIV Golf has been all over the news this week despite the PGA Tour holding one of its premiere events, the Waste Management Phoenix Open. At the WM Phoenix Open, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler spoke out about the potential of current LIV golfers eventually making a return to the PGA Tour.
While Justin Thomas cautioned that he is “not necessarily super adamant one way or the other” about whether LIV golfers should have a path to return to the PGA Tour, he had a lot to say to Patrick McDonald of CBS Sports.
Thomas said “I want the best product and the best players. I would say that there’s a handful of players on LIV that would make the Tour a better place, but I’m definitely not in the agreement that they should just be able to come back that easily.”
JT continued, adding “I think there’s a lot of us that made sacrifices and were very … whether it’s true to our word or what we believe in or just didn’t make that decision, and I totally understand that things are changing and things are getting better, but it just would … I would have a hard time with it, and I think a lot of guys would have a hard time with it, and I’m sure we don’t need to convince you why we would have a hard time with it. I think there’s a scenario somewhere, whatever it is, down the road of some kind of version of some guys being back. But when and what that is, I have no idea.”
Video of his comments:
Many of the top players on the PGA Tour seem to be grappling with the fact they stayed loyal to the PGA Tour while others fled for huge paychecks with LIV Golf. That’s evidenced by JT’s comments above.
Earlier in the week, Scottie Scheffler also spoke on the potential return of LIV golfers. Scheffler said “I think there’s a different level of player that left. You had some guys that left our tour and then sued our tour. That wasn’t really in great taste.”
He went on to add “Then you had some other guys that just left and they wanted to do something different. Everybody made their own decision, and I have no bad blood towards the guys that left. But a path towards coming back, I think it wouldn’t be a very popular decision, I think, if they just came back like nothing ever happened. I think there should be a pathway back for them, but they definitely shouldn’t be able to come back without any sort of contribution to the tour, if that makes sense.”
There seems to be a consensus that LIV golfers should have a path back to the PGA Tour but that it should not be easy. An example of ‘too easy’ might include current OWGR rankings or a simply qualifying tournament.
The flip side here is none of the PGA Tour stars like Justin Thomas who are open to LIV golfers returning have proposed concrete ideas on how the LIV Tour members could return.
Elsewhere in LIV Golf news, it was reported this week that bankers and lawyers have informed Congress members that the Saudis threatened them with prison if they cooperate with the ongoing PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger probe.
And in more fun LIV Golf news, they debuted a ‘party hole‘ meant to compete with the Waste Management Open’s flagship hole.