Matthew Wolff and Carlos Ortiz Are Reportedly The Next To Join LIV Golf, And A Major Ryder Cup Domino Is Considering Making The Jump As Well

Matthew Wolff and Carlos Ortiz are joining LIV Golf.

Yawn.

LIV Golf continues to add guys that are respectable and accomplished pro golfers, but they still haven't quite swayed one of those guys that really moves the needle. There was a period there in 2020 where Matt Wolff was a hot commodity at age 21 and having won a PGA Tour event in his 3rd start ever. Add a couple of high finishes at majors (including having the US Open at Winged Foot in his crosshairs before Bryson ran away with it) and there was a window where Wolffy would've been a great get by LIV. But that ship has sailed. Guy has cratered the last couple years, including some impressively bad missed cuts. What's sad is that it'll be really tough to contextualize whether he regains his form given the quality (or lack thereof) of LIV Golf. He's still only 23 and has plenty of golf ahead of him, it's just unclear if we ever see him play with the best of the best again. Of course, there's a chance that he'll never find it again and he's cashing out at a good time here.  That's yet to be seen.

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Carlos Ortiz... never really was a big catch for LIV. Call him organizational depth. He won the 2020 Houston Open and has contended in some tournaments here and there, but never really cemented himself as anything more than a middle of the road guy on Tour. Is what it is.

The news today that DID catch my attention, however.... is this little tidbit about one Henrik Stenson

This is something that's been on my mind throughout this whole ordeal. Do you think Zach Johnson and/or Henrik Stenson are big mad that their fellow pre-Champions Tour associates are basically getting fat pensions from LIV and they've got to sit around and wait for the Ryder Cup to be over to get theirs? Those two guys are right in the wheelhouse for LIV, except they've committed to getting what some would call a lifetime achievement award in the form of Ryder Cup captaincy.

But if Henrik Stenson were to make the jump, that would make massive ripples in the golf world. The Ryder Cup is sacred ground. You create legacies with the majors and the Ryder Cup. Players who have made the jump have expressed hope that the majors will continue to welcome them and that generally applies to the Ryder Cup as well. But none of them have straight up renounced any of those things. Renouncing a Ryder Cup captaincy would be sacrilegious. It'd be akin to lighting your green jacket on fire. You just don't do that. 

So with that said, it would be a huge haul for LIV Golf if they could sway him to do such a thing. This is a war of attrition, and pulling Stenson would be a huge shot across the bow of the PGA Tour and the traditional golf circles in the world. And who knows, it may even sway other guys likely to play in the Ryder Cup (particularly the European side that's surely going to get waxed over the next decade plus) to decide to turn their nose up at it too.

I have a tough time thinking he'll pull the trigger. Like everything else in this saga, we'll just have to wait and see...