Getty Image / Julio Aguilar
Peter Malnati secured his second PGA Tour win of his career last weekend when he took down the Valspar Championship with a -12 score of 272 that netted him a pay day of $1.512 million. The win came 8 years and 5.5 months after his first win on the PGA Tour at the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi.
It also came a week after he called out LIV during the PLAYERS Championship. Malnati has been ban outspoken LIV Golf critic all along. He’s one of six Player Directors on the PGA Tour alongside Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, and Charlie Hoffman.
Peter Malnati and his fellow Player Directors were integral parts of the PGA Tour’s $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG). And while the PGA Tour recently held meetings with members of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) about a potential merger of some sort, Peter Malnati doesn’t see the point of LIV’s ‘team golf’ appeal.
At the PLAYERS Championship, Malnati said:
“I don’t know what they’re doing, but it seems like a very forced team model, to me. When, at the end of the day, are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? I don’t know what fans of LIV want or care about, but are there any fans that care about who won it?”
“I mean, that seems so contrived to me. I feel like we could also create some contrived team golf something, somewhere outside of the FedEx Cup season. But what does (Al-Rumayyan) really want is a question that I want to understand better.”
“Because I don’t think it’s some contrived, fake, add up random guys’ scores and call them a team. I don’t think that’s it. I think what he means is more stuff like the Ryder Cup, I would guess, but I have no clue because I haven’t talked to him.”
Personally, I’ve changed my tune on LIV Golf from the earliest days. Primarily because the tour is home to some of my favorite golfers and I enjoy watching fellow Seminole Brooks Koepka play, and I enjoy seeing guys like DJ, Rahm, etc.
I’ve watched LIV Golf broadcasts, written extensively about the tour in the past two years, and I honestly could not tell you the names of more than 4 or 5 LIV Golf teams and that’s only because I’ve seen those names countless times during a broadcast or in a press release.
Yes, this is entirely anecdotal but the team aspect truly means nothing to me personally. And while I’m sure there are some fans out there who really enjoy the team aspect of LIV Golf, I think my experience and the feelings toward LIV of Peter Malnati are more indicative of golf fans, even those of us who grew up playing golf competitively but in a ‘team’ format similar to the Ryder Cup where you were paired 1 v 1 in matches.
Meanwhile, Peter Malnati just made $1.512 million last weekend and earned himself an invitation to The Masters. He was overcome with emotion after winning the Valspar Championship here in Florida:
His odds to win the Valspar? They were +25000. Hopefully some golf fans out there laid some $$$ on him and cashed in with him.