PGA Tour board member hits out at LIV Golf stars with Dustin Johnson claim
PGA Tour board member Webb Simpson has criticised Dustin Johnson and the players who decided to join LIV Golf.
Since its inception in 2022, LIV has continued to make its presence felt as the PGA continues to try and combat its threat to take over the sport. Several of the game’s top players left the PGA to join LIV, one of whom is Dustin Johnson. In the summer of 2022, the two-time major winner joined the Saudi-backed circuit and was named the LIV individual Champion in 2022, while his 4Aces GC team won four regular-season events and the Team Championship.
In 2023, the 39-year-old managed just one LIV title, when he won a thrilling playoff to win in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Johnson seems to be quite settled in LIV, but he has come under fire from Simpson, who is still disappointed his pal and other golfers chose to swap the PGA for their rivals.
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“I love Dustin (Johnson), he’s a buddy of mine,” Simpson told Golfweek. “But he had the opportunity to go down as one of the top 10 greatest players ever, and as soon as he signed his name to LIV – he still could be, but in the record books, we’ll never know.
“It’s not going to count. Things like that make me a little sad. But I’m not knocking the guys for going. I just think these young guys think about it differently, you know.” Some of LIV’s most significant selling points are the lucrative sums of money on offer and a schedule that is easier to manage for the players, both from a physical and mental perspective.
The one aspect that PGA will remain superior to LIV for some time to come, however, is its history and legacy, something that is still very important to Simpson. He also expressed his concern about greed in the sport and more sponsors could take the PGA's money and negotiate sponsorship opportunities. “Greed is a very clear exposer. I’m not saying the guys going to LIV, they’re all greedy,” he said.
Dustin Johnson was among the first players to join LIV Golf (2023 Getty Images)“I’m saying when these young guys, when it’s such a heavy consideration for them, I feel like this generation has missed or they don’t care about the things that other generations cared about, which is Hall of Fame, how many wins on the PGA Tour, contending in major championships. Everyone talks about the money.”
Johnson, who reportedly received $150m in appearance fees to join LIV, once spent 135 weeks as the PGA’s world number one, was the PGA Tour player of the year in 2016, the year he won the US Open, and 2020 - when he triumphed at The Masters.
Johnson's move to LIV was surprising at the time, given that he said he was committed to the PGA Tour four months before joining. When asked what had changed in such a short space of time, he replied: "I thought it was best for me and my family. I resign my membership of the PGA Tour.
"What the consequences are going to be I can't comment on how the Tour is going to handle it. I can't answer for the majors but hopefully, they're going to allow us to play. Obviously I'm exempt for the majors so I plan on playing there unless I hear otherwise."
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