LIV Golf rebels slammed for 's***' attitude towards PGA Tour
The lingering divisions between players in men’s professional golf show no signs of mending, even as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf slowly inch closer to a resolution.
On Tuesday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced that negotiations surrounding the “framework agreement” between the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — LIV Golf’s backers — are accelerating, but the process “is complicated and will take time.” With no end to the discussions in sight, fans and players alike are growing restless.
“I want the train to speed up so we can get this thing over and done with,” Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday. “We all need to sort of move forward and try to bring the game back together.”
Bringing the game back together, however, will likely not be as simple as signing a contractual merger. The heated tensions between professional golfers who defected to LIV Golf and those who stayed on the PGA Tour remain a focal aspect of the sport, and will take time to cool off.
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When asked about fans’ resentment towards the unwavering splits in men’s golf, Scottie Scheffler deflected onto those who chased more money at the Saudi-backed league. “If the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left,” Scheffler said on Tuesday. “We had a tour, we were all together and the people that left are no longer here. At the end of the day, that's where the splintering comes from.”
Veteran Mike Lorenzo-Vera, meanwhile, fired shots at defectors who spoke poorly about the PGA Tour. “The thing I don’t like is the people spitting on the Tour that has given them a s*** lot of money for years,” he told .
Lorenzo-Vera took specific aim at Sergio Garcia, who is intending on paying nearly £1million in fines to return to the DP World Tour. The outspoken Spaniard went on a profanity-laced tirade at the BMW International shortly after signing with LIV, bashing golfers in the locker room for not defecting and threatening legal action against the Tour.
“Sergio was horrible in Munich,” Lorenzo-Vera said. “He has always been great to me but it's that attitude I didn’t get and couldn’t understand. Ego must have been hurt there. The feeling that you can’t play Ryder Cup and can’t come back on the Tour they think they built but they haven’t.
Mike Lorenzo-Vera took specific aim at Sergio Garcia (Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)“Some of them gave me a lot of advice in my career which I’m very thankful for, but on this topic, the attitude has been proper s***. Even if they thought they were right. I’m sure there was troubles between the Tour and them, but man you’re getting £50 million to play golf. Just thank everybody and go, no?”
In response to those who’ll inevitably believe that Lorenzo-Vera is simply upset he’s not making as much money as those at LIV, the 39-year-old swiftly shut down the idea.
“Plenty of people are going to say, ‘You’re jealous.’ Why am I jealous?” Lorenzo-Vera asked. “If one guy deserved all the money it’s him for sure. I could have asked for an invite to the first [LIV Golf event]. I didn’t didn’t like the product and the way it's been done.”
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