Bitter rivals tee off

IN the genteel world of pro golf, flicking a tee at another player is the equivalent of throwing a cream pie in his face.

A flying tee harms no man but it’s the angry intention that sets the vibe and rocks the world.

And it’s why the stunning fallout between LIV golf’s abrasive, unpopular Patrick Reed and the traditional tour’s pin-up boy Rory McIlroy has become the talk of global sport.

McIlroy ignored Reed’s attempts to shake his hand when the warring parties came together in a tournament in Dubai this week, prompting Reed to throw a tee in his direction.

“Rory just looked down there and … kind of decided to ignore us,” Reed said. “If you’re going to act like an immature little child, then you might as well be treated like one.”

McIlroy in turn said he had been served with a writ by Reed’s lawyers on Christmas Eve for an unspecified court case. And it miffed him.

“Patrick came up to say hello, and I didn’t really want him to,” McIlroy said. “And if roles were reversed and I’d have thrown that tee at him, I’d be expecting him (to file) a lawsuit.”

Cop that. Golf, a sport where you are expected to apologise if you stand on your opponent’s line on a green, has barely ever witnessed such withering put-downs.

If they are saying these things in public, imagine what happens behind closed doors.

Reed and McIlroy are two of the finest golfers in the world but suddenly they sounded like two mid-range boxers trying to amp up a fight in which ticket sales have been snail-paced.

But where boxing rivalries are often fake and fabricated this fallout is real.

McIlroy is the hero of the PGA and DP world tours for championing their cause at every opportunity and speaking out against the “men in black’’ who took millions to join Greg Norman’s breakaway group.

While McIlroy says he hates the damage the war is doing to golf, a more pertinent question is whether it in fact damages the game at all.

The stagnant golf scene is alive and full of drama.

Pay packets on both sides have surged to record levels. So who is really suffering? LIV, for all its many foibles, is taking the sport around the globe.

The traditional tour officials have privately consoled themselves that LIV has taken many of the sport’s players who were considered abrasive by their peers … Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Reed, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka among them.

But these players are also massive drawcards. PGA star Sam Burns may be No.13 in the world rankings compared with Mickelson’s current spot of 239 yet Hall of Famer Mickelson still draws a far bigger gallery.

The rival outfits will come together in the four golf majors, where interest is expected to surge to heights not seen since Tiger Woods was in his pomp.

More fireworks surely ahead. Bring it on.