This week’s Masters, as it was in 2023, is being presented in some circles as the PGA Tour vs. the LIV Golf League. Some people—inside and outside each organization—see it as the Good Guys (Tour) vs. the Bad Guys (LIV), citing players in LIV as traitors to the Tour.
What do the players themselves believe, particularly as negotiations of a potential merger continue?
“The negotiations, whether LIV wins or not, are a fascinating aspect of this situation,’’ said Bryson DeChambeau, who made a high-profile move to the LIV for a reported $125 million. “If a LIV player were to win, including myself, it would be a thrilling outcome, and we’d all be extremely excited and happy for that individual.
“I’m not so sure about the other side, but that’s for them to make up their own emotional state, I guess you could say.
“To be honest with you, from a negotiation standpoint, I don’t think it’ll change much.”
DeChambeau – one of the game’s more colorful and outspoken players – said he continues to talk to players in each side, “just (to) show that there is a mutually beneficial ground, a peace that I hope a lot of people can start to see.’’
“I’ve had visions of this for quite a long time. Unfortunately, you can’t publicly say them because you get scrutinized and criticized, and everybody throws things in certain ways to give you curve balls.
I want to be very careful and cautious because I don’t know what the future of golf fully looks like, and I’m just a bystander trying to play some golf and trying to help advocate for the fans to win again. They need to win.’’
As he has said previously, DeChambeau this week at Augusta Nationa Golf Club said he moved to LIV Golf for his family “and what I had in front of me at that point in time.’’
“I think my mom would have probably smacked me for not taking the deal.’’
