11 January 2024 , 02:31
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Jack Nicklaus has become the latest big name to perform a U-turn on LIV Golf - admitting the Saudi-backed league has made much more of a splash than he ever expected.
The golf legend was among those outraged by the rebel competition poaching a host of big names from the PGA Tour by offering lucrative contracts funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Despite a merger being announced, a deal between LIV and the PGA Tour has still not been agreed as political division continues to dominate the sport.
But Nicklaus has conceded that LIV Golf has been a “powerful addition” to the golfing landscape - and admits he does not believe it is going anywhere as he hopes for an agreement. Speaking on Golf Central and referencing talks with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Nicklaus said: “I talked to Jay [Monahan] about three weeks ago.
“We were talking, and I said, ‘Jay, don’t tell me what you’re doing. I don’t want to know because Rich Lerner is going to ask me a question about it, and if I don’t know, then I don’t have to answer the question.’
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“So, I don’t really know where they’re going. I hope that they get this thing together all in the best interest of the game of golf. The LIV thing has been a powerful addition to the game, probably impacted a lot more than we thought it was going to, but it has, and it probably will continue to do so.
“I know Jay’s taken a beating, but I’ve always been in full support of Jay. Everything Jay’s done has been in the best interest of golf and the Tour.”
Speaking when the second season of LIV Golf got underway last year, Nicklaus said: "I don’t fault the guys who have gone to LIV," he said. "You have to make a choice, between playing golf for a short period time, for a lot of money, to put away for your family, or do you have the loyalty to play regular golf, then the senior tour and into retirement.
"It’s a quick hit and that’s their call, and I don’t fault that. But I don’t think it’s been good for the game of golf, the PGA Tour was forced to react and I don’t like the way we’ve automatically created a secondary tour within the main tour, we’ve created a second layer. But times change though, so you go with the times. The future of LIV will depend on how these legal cases are handled.
Nicklaus has been surprised by the impact of LIV Golf (Getty Images)"It’s money trying to buy the game, it’s trying to buy respectability, and I don’t think that’s what it’s all about. Somebody said they’re trying to buy the ability to sit on the veranda at Augusta National sipping Mint Julep with the membership and be accepted. It’s trying to gain acceptability within the mainframe of the game of golf.”
Rory McIlroy, arguably the most outspoken critic against LIV Golf, recently admitted he also had made a “mistake” judging fellow players who jumped ship to the rival league.
"I think at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realise that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods' position," McIlroy confessed on Stick to Football.
“We all turn professionals to making a living playing the sports that we do, and I think that's what I realised over the last two years. I can't judge people for making that decision, so if I regret anything, it was probably being too judgmental at the start."