Tiger can’t relate to young golfers’ LIV choice
You knew it was coming. At some point Tiger Woods was going to weigh in on the LIV Golf Series, and almost certainly it was going to be negative.
To many of us, Woods is still the red shirt-clad youngster swashbuckling his way around golf ’s toughest courses, decimating lesser players, running away with tournament victories.
But while Woods is a middle-aged man, he is an old golfer.
Woods has always played to win. He has won more than anyone of his generation and is tied with Sam Snead for the most Tour wins all-time.
So, of course, he doesn’t relate to the desire to just make money, which is a driving force for many of the LIV defectors.
More than just the old guys who are taking huge paydays on their way out of the game, Woods questioned the younger players who are taking the guaranteed money from LIV instead of making a go of it on the PGA Tour.
He simply can’t understand why players would potentially give up playing in major tournaments or earning world rankings points.
“They've gone right from the amateur ranks right into that organization and never really got a chance to play out here and what it feels like to play a Tour schedule or to play in some big events,” said the 46-year-old Woods as he prepped for the Open Championship at St. Andrews. “What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?
“You're just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They're playing blaring music and have all these atmospheres that are different.”
Yep, Woods had a “get off my lawn” moment.
Woods’ words aren’t much different than those from people who criticize college basketball players for leaving school early to turn pro.
His observations aren’t unfair, mind you, but the money being offered by LIV is difficult to turn down for young players who may not ever do any damage on the PGA Tour.
Woods, who delayed his professional career to attend Stanford, probably would have turned down a lucrative LIV offer when he was young. He was virtually assured of riches.
He was that good, and everyone knew it. He eventually became a billionaire.
LIV, which bills itself as “golf, but louder,” says it is “supercharging the professional golf landscape and creating new value for fans and players alike.”
I’ll stay away from the dirty money and sportswashing arguments here because nothing these players do with LIV will change Saudi Arabia’s reputation or erase its abusive human rights history.
Plus, the PGA Tour purporting to hold the moral high ground is a bit suspect, considering its event in China.
Regardless, it is hard to begrudge young players for taking the money that is on the table.
Defending U.S. Amateur champion James Piot signed a million-dollar LIV deal. The guy majored in finance at Michigan State. This is a good business decision.
The odds are very much against Piot ever building a PGA Tour legacy of note. He is not (and was not ever going to be) a Tiger Woods.
Piot, who turned pro in May, had exemptions to a handful of PGA events. He missed the cut at the Masters and the U.S. Open, and he missed the cut at the Memorial and the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Most likely, he would have had to go to Q-School in the fall to try to earn a PGA Tour card for 2023.
Eugenio Chacarra’s decision was just as easy. Chacarra, who was the second-ranked amateur in the world, had planned to return to Oklahoma State for his senior season but instead signed a three-year deal with LIV.
“This contract gives me peace of mind and ensures the future of my family,” Chacarra told Marca, a Spanish newspaper. “I had already achieved everything as an amateur, and now I will be able to gain experience as a professional.
“They have given me an opportunity, and my grandfather always told me that when you have (an opportunity), to take the train.”
These young players’ “legacies” will reflect that they took the easier road to golf riches.
But so will their bank accounts. There is nothing wrong with that.
Tiger Woods simply can’t relate.