Men’s skilled golf is under siege.
4 major championships appear to be all that is left as oases where the best players in the world can meet, compete and – hold your breath – cheer, break bread and drink wine together.
Since the advent of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has responded with such an aggressive defensive to the Saudi-backed tour, banning players who were once stars of their circuit played a task in tearing the sport apart.
The DP World Tour, in a business bed with the PGA Tour, followed suit with a similarly tough attitude towards LIV players, cutting off his own nose to spite his face. Players who had a big part in constructing what was previously often called the European Tour and now play LIV have been fined so many tons of of 1000’s of dollars for his or her involvement in LIV that they’re forced to resign from Tour membership.
The whole thing is frustrating, disturbing and sad.
Despite the narrative that persists in pitting players from the PGA Tour and Europe against their buddies who took Saudi money, we learned at the Masters last month that it is not the players, but the suits, that run the tours, that are at odds with Ten.
At Masters Brooks, LIV’s Koepka voluntarily played a practice round with Rory McIlroy, who was the PGA Tour’s unofficial spokesperson in fighting the LIV concept. Dustin Johnson has been rambling on about how much he misses the other PGA Tour players he never sees because he plays on the LIV tour and was kicked out of PGA Tour events.
![Golf](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011017506.jpg?w=1024)
This is what makes weeks like this, with the PGA Championship held at the Oak Hill Country Club outside Rochester, welcome.
So, good for PGA of America (which runs the PGA Championship), Masters, USGA (although they modified a few of their qualifiers to get into the US Open field to harm LIV players) and Royal & Ancient (which runs the British Open) .
These 4 tournaments are all that is left for golf fans to see the best players compete against one another. Even the beloved biennial Ryder Cup is ravaged by conflict.
As for the narrative that LIV Golf players – with its 54-hole tournaments, 48-player courses, rock ‘n’ roll and shorts – can not associate with the big boys of the PGA Tour, it has been dispelled quite dramatically around the Augusta National, like the one where the players hated one another. Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed, all LIV players, finished in the top 4 at Augusta behind winner Jon Rahm.
Talor Gooch, who entered the LIV tournament in Oklahoma this weekend having won the previous two tournaments, would otherwise have been considered a favourite at Oak Hill, but as an alternative he is an afterthought and at the moment has not even qualified for the US Open field, which should be embarrassing for the USGA.
![golf](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010650501.jpg?w=1024)
“We’re still the same people,” Koepka said at the Masters of LIV golf tournament. “I do know that if I’m healthy, I do know that I can compete. I do not think any of the guys who played the event thought otherwise either. I believe it’s just produced by the media that we won’t compete anymore that we’re kicked out.
It is not necessarily the media that is guilty, as Koepka has suggested, but the lobbying machines behind the PGA Tour which have armed Saudi money — although the PGA Tour (and each other major golf tour) has done business with Saudi Arabia for years.
Last month at the Masters, we had a welcome week-long break from the hypocrisy game and saw the best players on the same field fighting together for the same prize. One other of those cherished events will happen in Oak Hill this week.
Nevertheless, after the PGA Championships, we’ll only get two a yr: the US Open in June at the Los Angeles Country Club and the British Open in July at Royal Liverpool.
So enjoy while it lasts.