PGA Tour told it has become 'qualifier' for LIV Golf in humiliating assessment
Former Team USA Ryder Cup captain, Paul Azinger believes the PGA Tour is beginning to turn into a 'qualifier' for LIV Golf, amid the growing quality of the breakaway league's roster.
Since forming in June 2022, the LIV setup has been able to lure in the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and more recently Jon Rahm away from the traditional circuits. The mega-money pull of the breakaway league has been hard to turn down for many, and this has only strengthened the league's quality year-on-year.
It has still been thought by the majority of observers that the PGA Tour remains at the top of the professional golfing pyramid, but 12-time Tour winner Azinger has expressed his concerns about the world's best players being split across two circuits.
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“The best players aren’t all playing PGA Tour tournaments," he told Golfweek. "That’s over. Suddenly, the LIV Tour, let’s just say it like this: the PGA Tour has fast become the qualifier for LIV and it’s a sad day for golf. Yeah, I’ve watched a little bit and I’m not I’m not missing it that much. I’m not missing it at all.”
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The 1993 PGA champion had previously been the voice of NBC's PGA Tour coverage in the United States, but saw his time in the commentary box come to an end last November after his contract was not renewed. For now it appears he has no plans to return to calling professional golf, before refusing to fully rule out a potential gig with LIV.
"I would not rule that out. But it ain’t gonna happen,” he commented. “It would be stupid for me to say, ‘oh, no, I’m ruling that out.’ I don’t rule anything out except the Tour.” Like Azinger, players on both sides of golf's civil war want to see the best on the planet come back together after nearly two years of disruption.
Paul Azinger had his say on the PGA Tour-LIV Golf saga (Getty Images)As things stand, the PGA Tour are currently in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) over a potential alignment with LIV which is expected to reunite the big names. One of those who decided to make the Saudi switch is former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
And the American is keen to return to competing alongside his PGA Tour rivals sooner rather than later. "You're just going to see both entities continue to grow, and I hope at some point we'll come back together. It needs to happen," DeChambeau said at LIV Mayakoba last month.
"I hope people can just put down their weapons and come to the table and figure it out because that's what's good for the game of golf and for fans in general. But like I said, any additional capital going into the game of golf is always positive. I've always said that. It may not be exactly what we all think it should be, but as time goes on, I think things will settle down in a positive way for both."
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