AUGUSTA, Ga.: Tom Watson solely noticed unity, dialog and simple laughter amongst 33 champions on the Masters Club dinner, seven of them now with Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Watson longs for the day golf can really feel that approach all 12 months lengthy.
Unity is a well-liked subject on the first main of the 12 months as a result of the PGA Tour has suspended LIV gamers for defecting to the rival circuit. The solely time all of the world’s greatest get collectively are on the majors, and the Masters is the primary likelihood for that since July.
Watson stated he requested Masters Chairman Fred Ridley if he may converse towards the tip of the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night time.
“I’m looking around the room and I’m seeing just a wonderful experience everybody is having,” Watson, a two-time Masters champion, stated Thursday. “They are jovial. They are having a great time. They are laughing. And I said, ‘Ain’t it good to be together again?’”
Watson stated the room grew quiet after which it was time to depart.
“And in a sense, I hope that the players themselves took that to say, ‘You know, we have to do something,’” Watson stated. He paused earlier than repeating, “We have to do something.”
Watson, three-time champion Gary Player and six-time champion Jack Nicklaus had been collectively once more on the primary tee Thursday morning to hit the honorary tee shot, which was delayed by in a single day rain.
They have mixed to win 35 majors — Nicklaus and Player personal the profession Grand Slam — and are main figures in golf who’re amongst these saddened by the cut up in within the recreation because of the arrival of LIV Golf. The circuit lured away main champions with assured Saudi riches.
But the Masters Club is a time for celebration. It was stated to be like {that a} 12 months in the past with no distinction this time round. Most of tales had been about Seve Ballesteros as a result of the defending Masters champion can also be a Spaniard, Jon Rahm.
There isn’t any indication the 2 excursions are about to return collectively, whilst t he PGA Tour negotiates with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the cash behind LIV — as a minority investor within the new business enterprise.
Among the obstacles for unification is a path again to the PGA Tour for LIV gamers, assuming all of them need to return.
“The best outcome is the best players play against each other all the time,” stated Nicklaus, who has a stake in golf along with his Memorial Tournament.
He stated he has spoken with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and was informed the tour was doing wonderful.
“If Jay thinks we’re doing fine, we’ll get there. I think we’ll get there,” Nicklaus stated. “And I certainly hope that happens, the sooner the better.”
Player believes any answer has to incorporate paying gamers who stayed loyal to the tour.
“You’ve got to get together and come to a solution. If you cannot — it’s not good,” he stated. “The public don’t like it, and we as professionals don’t like it, either.”
Listening to the information convention from the entrance row was former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, now an Augusta National member. He retired earlier than the Saudis obtained concerned in golf and has stayed comparatively quiet, not keen to supply an opinion.
Finchem was in his first 12 months as commissioner in 1994 when he rapidly shot down Greg Norman’s effort to start out a world tour. He stated in 2010 he may foresee a world tour sooner or later with out understanding what form it may take.
Rory McIlroy has been amongst these suggesting a collection of tournaments around the globe for the highest gamers, and that maybe any answer with LIV may embrace that.
Finchem isn’t so positive the fractured panorama will yield any type of a world tour.
“Golf is not much different than it was 10 years ago and it won’t be much different 10 years from now,” Finchem stated. “They shouldn’t muck around with it.”
About the one factor everybody can agree on is that having gamers scattered amongst totally different excursions and solely competing in opposition to different 4 occasions a 12 months isn’t serving to the game.
“We all know it’s a difficult situation for professional golf right now,” Watson stated. “The players really kind of have control, I think, in a sense. What do they want to do? We’ll see where it goes. We don’t have the information or the answers. I don’t think the PGA Tour or the LIV tour really have an answer right now.
“But I think in this room, I know the three of us want to get together,” he stated. “We want to get together like we were at that (Masters) Champions Dinner — happy, the best players playing against each other. That’s what we want in professional golf. And right now, we don’t have it.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
