The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
DiMarco hopes LIV will take over Tour
The wait for a deal between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour goes on, but it’s not just those operating on the rival circuits that have a vested interest in an eradefining moment for the sport.
It remains to be seen whether the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) bankrolling the LIV league will strike a definitive agreement with the US circuit, despite the growing consensus across both domains that a fractured talent pool is bad for the game.
Regardless, as the factions aim to thrash out a peace deal, some will also be keeping an eye on what the future holds for golf’s premier senior circuit.
Chris DiMarco, a threetime PGA Tour winner who now makes his living on the Champions Tour, is hoping that LIV, whose CEO is Greg Norman, completes a full takeover and boosts the circuit’s prize purses. “We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” DiMarco told the Subpar Podcast.
“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25m Players Championship) that made more money than our purses.”
Last week’s Champions Tour event, the Hoag Classic, had a prize pot of $2m, with a total of $67m up for grabs across the circuit’s 28-event schedule in 2024.
For context, there is over $400m of official prize money available in the PGA Tour’s 38-event season.
DiMarco, 55, has also come to the defence of LIV golfers who jumped ship from the traditional tours for financial reasons, admitting he would have done exactly the same. “They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?” he stressed.
“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’
“And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have, too.”
Like many pros on the PGA Tour, DiMarco has been left unconvinced by Jay Monahan’s leadership following the commissioner’s dramatic U-turn to negotiate a deal with the Saudis last June.
“Not to bash Jay Monahan, but I think he handled it terribly,” he added. “In the beginning have the cut and dry (stance) that he did, I think it was a little too much.
“I think he should have let some of this soak in and see what was going to happen, and he just got to a point where it got black and white, that’s it.
“I think he could have done a little bit better of a job with that, the guys had stuck by.
“Like Rory McIlroy, these guys have turned down a lot of money and what do they have to show for it? These guys get to come back and play, I’d be pretty ticked off if I was them.”