Tour merger gives Smith everything he could possibly want while the LIV commissioner’s time as a powerbroker is surely overAs the golf world continues to reel from the news that the Saudi-backed LIV Golf will merge with the PGA Tour and the DP World tour, Australia’s Cameron Smith now has everything he could possibly desire: the money, more money to play for and his tournament of choice to play in.With Yasir al-Rumuyyan at the helm of a new world golf entity, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) take-over will have an immense impact on Australian golf and its most well known figures. Continue reading...
Life has apparently turned sour for the LIV rebel, with digs at Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and a Ryder Cup snubThere once was a swashbuckling young Spaniard named Sergio. When Señor García burst on to the golf scene more than two decades ago, there was excitement about a player who was carefree on the course and had a twinkle in his eye off it. The expectation was that García would win a lot more than the solitary major that has come his way – the 2017 Masters – but a combined 27 victories between the DP World and PGA Tours still make the 43-year-old one of the finest players of his generation.We are, however, entitled to ask why life apparently...
Players on both sides of golf’s divide appear to be attempting to bury the hatchet for the duration of competition at AugustaNothing around Augusta National is exactly what it seems. You’ve maybe read, here and elsewhere, all the old stories about the place. Those bird noises you hear on the TV coverage? They say they’re dubbed in by the broadcaster. That azure water in the ponds? The groundskeepers are supposed to dye it just the right hue of blue. And all that immaculate grass? The whisper is they spray paint the bare patches. The club have always refused to confirm or deny any of it. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, just enjoy the azaleas and have...
If Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner, is not pondering what on earth he is doing on the LIV Tour, he should beEstablishing the precise thoughts of Brooks Koepka is a knotty business. This is the individual who, before last year’s US Open, barked at a line of questioning relating to his potential involvement in the breakaway LIV Tour. No sooner had dust settled on Matt Fitzpatrick’s famous Brookline success than Koepka was unveiled as a LIV recruit. Koepka’s earlier podium protesting identified him as little more than a phony.Oh to be inside the mind of Koepka now. As Scottie Scheffler returned to No 1 in the world courtesy of a dominant victory at a packed Phoenix Open, focus immediately...
Rebel tour has lost momentum heading into 2023 leaving those tempted by the riches promised facing an uncertain futureIt is telling that discussion around Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to the Saudi Arabian league focuses on the player’s inexorable slide towards footballing oblivion. Ronaldo was unveiled at the end of a year in which at least 147 people had been executed in Saudi Arabia, according to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. Ronaldo’s 526 million Instagram and 106 million Twitter followers will now be afforded updates from Al Nassr as football obsessives debate his on-field decline. The Saudis have bought one of the game’s iconic figures, meaning goals and assists barely matter. Neither does the source of Ronaldo’s weekly wage. Sportswashing...