R&A chief Slumbers blasts rival LIV Tour
ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND » R&A chief Martin Slumbers tore into the Saudifunded LIV Golf series on Wednesday as a money grab that threatens the game’s merit-based culture that has been cultivated over centuries.
He threatened to change the British Open criteria that would make it more difficult for some players to gain entry to golf’s oldest championship.
“Professional golfers are entitled to choose where they want to play and to accept the prize money that’s offered to them. I have absolutely no issue with that at all,” Slumbers said at his annual news conference ahead of the Open.
“But there is no such thing as a free lunch.”
He said two LIV Golf events held outside London and Portland, Oregon, were not in the best longterm interests of golf and were “entirely driven by money.”
Those 54-hole events with no cut offered $25 million in prize money to 48 players. Many of them were given signing fees, reportedly $150 million or more, for the bigger names.
“We believe it undermines the merit-based culture and spirit of open competition that makes golf so special,” Slumbers said.
He spoke two days after The Wall Street Journal
debut, raised concerns last week when he said the British Open could be little more than a “wedge contest” if the wind goes on holiday.the reason it stands up to the modern game? “Because of the weather,” he said. But then he quickly added, “I don’t think it stands the test of time if it’s benign.”
He thought back to the last time, in 2015, when Zach Johnson won the three-man playoff after they finished at 15-under par. That was a Monday finish because of wind delays.
“If the conditions are calm for four days — which I don’t think happens over here — I think that with today’s technology, it becomes a shootout.”
It’s not all about power.
reported that the dispute between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour had the attention of the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division.
“That is a testament to their stupidity, quite honestly,”
Spieth says wind or not, there are certain spots to which players can hit because of subtle turns, pot bunkers, even a few gorse bushes depending on the line. Getting there is easier without wind. The next shot is easier. Scores get lower.
But then there’s Scottie Scheffler, who is contemplating hitting left toward the sixth fairway when he’s playing the 13th just to avoid the bunkers.
The No. 1 player in the world can join some elite company. Winning at Augusta National and St. Andrews is special. The list includes Woods and Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros, and most recently Johnson.
Scheffler is spending more time on the course Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf, said of the PGA Tour in an interview with the Palm Beach Post in Florida.
“They brought it on themselves. We haven’t done anything other than
than on the range, discovering countless options on how to play shots. From 30 yards or so off the green, he has used just about everything from a putter to a 6-iron. He already has experienced how differently the course has played with normal wind by Scottish standards — 5-iron, wedge into the first hole one day, 3-iron, 5-iron another day.
“When you get a little bit of wind, all bets are off,” he said.
In some respects, St. Andrews is like Pebble Beach. On a calm day, it can be a most enjoyable walk and as easy a course as players will find in a major championship. In the wind, it can be a holy terror. Nicklaus and Woods are the only players to have won majors on both.