The PGA Tour And Their Pals Announced Numerous Improvements To Strengthen Their Partnerships Right In The Middle Of LIV Golf's First Press Conference In The US
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Last week the PGA Tour announced numerous changes to their operations, including a more refined schedule, an exciting fall series of events, and most importantly... fatter purses. All of that was obviously in response to LIV Golf putting a dent in their membership. What did LIV Golf due in response? Well... they announced one of their biggest signings right in the middle of that presser.
So today LIV Golf had their opening press conference before their first event over here in America, featuring new signees Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Wolff, and Abe Ancer.
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And guess who dropped a bomb right in the middle of said press conference?
Yep, that's right. Jay Monahan and the rest of the existing golf powers that be, announcing additional changes to join hands and beef up their alliances. Eye for an eye. No punches pulled. This is war.
Now… the details of the changes can be found via the press releases in the tweets above. The Tours are basically strengthening their partnerships in an effort to retain their talent and box LIV Golf out. The PGA Tour has been extremely straightforward in their stance against LIV, threatening and subsequently suspending the players that jumped ship. The DP World Tour (which is the European Tour for those who don't know) was outspoken against LIV, but they didn't go as far as suspending the players or threaten sanctions. This is important because of what I wrote about regarding Official World Golf Ranking points and how they relate to the majors.
It remains unclear whether LIV Golf's application for OWGR points will be approved, but it seems unlikely. Which would mean in due time, LIV Golfers would have a tough road to qualify for majors. However… as long as LIV Golfers remain unsuspended by the European Tour, that tour serves as a potential avenue for those guys to supplement their LIV schedules with a few events that would provide them OWGR point opportunities and qualify for majors that way. That's why you'll see an American player like Patrick Reed include the European Tour in their Twitter bios.
Did today's announcements include a DP World Tour suspension of those players? Not quite, it appears. So today's news doesn't quite pack the punch that it could have. But it did further the relationship between the PGA Tour and European Tour, which has been growing over the past couple years as rival golf leagues have threatened the status quo.
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Lastly, the PGA Tour is adding a few more cards for high Korn Ferry Tour finishers, along with 5 cards for guys straight out of Q-School. This serves to accelerate top talents coming out of college to jump more directly to the PGA Tour. One of LIV Golf's strongest long-term strategies is to pluck top young talent before they have to go through the grind that is earning a Tour card. Guys like reigning US Am champ James Piot and Eugenio Chacarra have taken the bag and that's a trend that was sure to continue until the PGA Tour could figure out a way to get their up-and-comers an avenue more directly to the Tour. That, and some fatter Korn Ferry purses. They accomplished both of those things today.
Just another series of battles that continue to be fought in a war that has no end in sight.