This week, PGA Tour superstar Rory McIlroy offered a surprising and controversial opinion when he said that he no longer believes that LIV Golf players should face any punishment if they want to return to the PGA Tour. But not everyone shares that opinion.
PGA Tour golfer Christiaan Bezuidenhout said that he does not agree with Rory McIlroy on this point, saying that he personally would not want any LIV Golf players to come back to the PGA Tour, and he thinks most of the current PGA Tour players feel that way.
“I wouldn’t mind more investors into the PGA Tour, but I wouldn’t want to see any of the LIV guys come back,” Bezuidenhout told ESPN. “[McIlroy’s] one guy out of 200 guys that feels that way. So I don’t feel like his say should be the only say on the tour. He’s obviously a huge asset to the PGA Tour and he drives our tour well, but I just don’t feel that his 180 turn that he’s made over the last few months would be the right call. I think there’s a lot more to it and there are a lot of guys that feel that.”
Bezuidenhout agrees that unity between all the best players would be good for the sport, but he points out that the blame for the lack of unity lies with the players who left for LIV Golf, and he doesn’t think the players who turned down millions to remain loyal to the PGA Tour want the LIV players back.
“There’s a lot of guys who also turned down millions of dollars, which would’ve made a difference in their life, probably not in Rory’s life, but in a lot of the other guys’ lives,” Bezuidenhout said. “I just know even some of the top guys who don’t want the LIV guys back here. If the PIF wants to invest, it’s obviously great, but I just feel like the players on the board should represent 70% of the players that feel the way I feel.”
Golf is certainly at an interesting place with the division between LIV and the PGA Tour.
[ESPN]
