Golfers at U.S. Open voice opinions about PGA, LIV merger

‘We’re so interested in the why’: U.S. Open golfers vocal about PGA Tour-LIV merger

Jon Rahm points as he prepares to putt on the fourth green during a practice round for the U.S. Open.

By Steve HensonAssistant Sports Editor

Published June 13, 2023 Updated June 15, 2023 12:10 PM PT

The news was so jarring for professional golfers that they’ll always remember where they were when they heard that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf had entered into a partnership agreement.

Jon Rahm said he was home in Arizona making breakfast with his wife, Kelley, and two young sons.

“Texts just started flowing in,” he said. “I thought my phone was going to catch on fire at one point. ... I told Kelley, ‘I’m just going to throw my phone in the drawer and not look at it for the next four hours because I can’t deal with this anymore.’ “

Brooks Koepka, a LIV golfer who took the PGA Championship a month ago for his fifth major win, was eating breakfast at his home course in Jupiter, Fla.

“I ran into [PGA golfers] Rickie [Fowler] and JT [Thomas] after watching the whole thing and I asked if they knew, and they said they didn’t know, either,” he said. “They were kind of learning about it. They were on the back of the range, so I probably saw them 30 minutes after the news broke.”

The merger June 6 shocked the golf world because few saw it coming. The two organizations, as well as the European DW World Tour, agreed to combine the commercial businesses and rights of all three into a yet-to-be-named company. Pending litigation brought by the PGA and LIV ceased.

LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund — controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — triggering debate over the morality of PGA golfers taking enormous sums of money from a regime notorious for human-rights abuses.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the chamber’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, opened an investigation Monday into the merger. Details of the agreement haven’t been determined or made public, and Tuesday at the Los Angeles Country Club, where practice rounds were played ahead of the U.S. Open, several prominent golfers weren’t quite sure what to say about it.

“For a lot of different parties there are a lot of different reasons why it’s happening,” Collin Morikawa said. “So we all want to know the why. We’re so interested in the why. ... Like, what’s the purpose behind it?”

When the merger was announced on social media, Morikawa dryly tweeted: “I love finding out morning news on Twitter.”

Collin Morikawa speaks Tuesday during a news conference before the U.S. Open golf tournament at Los Angeles Country Club.

The La Cañada Flintridge product said Tuesday he’s tried not to think about it since, preferring to focus on preparing for the U.S. Open on a course he is familiar with playing.

“I think what you’ve seen from the players versus what you’ve seen from maybe our commissioner versus the [PGA policy] board ... versus LIV versus — there’s a lot of parties involved,” he said. “Everyone has had a kind of different answer and different reaction to all this.”

PGA veteran Patrick Cantlay grew up in Long Beach, went to UCLA and expects lots of family and friends to cheer him on this week. He also is a member of the PGA policy board and involved in the organization’s decisions. Yet even he was taken by surprise by the merger.

“I’ve talked to a number of people, independents on the board, players on the board and I’ve talked to [PGA Commissioner] Jay [Monahan],” he said. “Right now it seems like it’s still too early to have enough information to have a good handle on the situation.”

Cantlay indicated that PGA players who turned down lucrative LIV offers might deserve compensation “in a perfect world.” He sympathized with players such as Rahm, who said he felt a “betrayal from management.”

“Anytime you’re left in the dark on a decision that potentially affects you massively, that could easily make you upset,” Cantlay said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself and form an opinion like that until I know all the facts. But I understand that emotion, and I think it’s totally natural and understandable.”

Rahm, No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings, reportedly turned down as much as $400 million to join LIV. But after watching his friend Koepka’s success at recent majors while playing the less-demanding LIV schedule, he said he was beginning to waver.

The merger occurred before he could cash in. If he has regrets, he didn’t voice them Tuesday, in fact expressing a refreshing perspective.

“No matter what happens, whether I agree with it or not, thanks to the PGA Tour, they give me a platform to play golf at the highest level, and after taking advantage of that possibility, I’m in a situation where my family and my kids don’t have to struggle financially ever,” he said.

“I’m in a very high state of privilege in this world. I can do what I want. I can do what I love for a living.”