The true feelings of those in charge at Augusta remain hard to read but one thing is clear – locking out players is not good for businessThe air of mystique surrounding Augusta National ensures a captive audience even when there is precious little to say. It would have been major news had the host club of the Masters announced that LIV rebels would be banned from the 87th staging of the major. Instead, in somewhat grudging and opaque terms, the tournament chairman, Fred Ridley, confirmed LIV players already eligible for April in Georgia – 16 of them, to be precise – will not encounter roadblocks at the end of Magnolia Lane.The Masters is looking after itself. This is the same...
Henrik Stenson has not won since 2017 and like García, Poulter, Mickelson and Westwood is being paid on name not formSportswashing is not supposed to make commercial sense. Therein lies the reason that no normally functioning business saw fit to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a disruption plan for golf. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) can attempt to rebrand a kingdom for which the murder of a journalist and human rights atrocities are typical reference points with the benefit of an apparently bottomless pit of cash. If the PGA and DP World Tours find themselves embroiled in a commercial long game with the Saudi-backed LIV Series, they know they will be outmuscled.Events of recent days did, however,...
The schism in world golf is the all-consuming storyline, with all eyes now turning to Augusta and the 2023 MastersThe condensed nature of the men’s major championship schedule leaves an unsatisfactory pause after the final putts are holed at the Open. To be precise, 263 days will have passed between Cameron Smith holding the Claret Jug aloft at the Old Course and the opening tee shots being struck at the 2023 Masters.There is reason, however, to wonder what on earth the professional game could – or should – look like by the time it returns to Augusta National next year. Mainstream tours can wish away the LIV Series all they like and the R&A can try to divert focus on...
DP World Tour is expected to prevent LIV Golf players such as Phil Mickelson from playing the Scottish Open in JulyThe latest move in golf’s epic power struggle is likely to see those rebels who have committed to the LIV Series prevented from playing in the Scottish Open. Although still to be completely finalised, the sanction is among those expected to be revealed by the DP World, formerly European, Tour in the coming days.The Scottish Open, worth $8m (£6.5m) in prize money, ordinarily forms a key part of Open buildup for scores of players and is a marquee event on the DP World Tour. Entries close on Thursday. Continue reading...
The sport’s arbiters, the R&A and USGA, must find a solution so the Saudi-backed LIV Series can coexist with established toursThe return this week of the US Open to the Country Club in Brookline for the first time since 1988 would ordinarily be a cause for reflection. The 1999 Ryder Cup there was laced with controversy after a ferocious European reaction to premature US celebrations.There will be only passing reference to Curtis Strange’s playoff success over Nick Faldo. Sam Torrance and his famous broadside – “Tom Lehman calls himself a man of God. That was not the behaviour of a man of God” – likewise. Even the course setup presided over by the United States Golf Association, an annual debating...