PGA Tour players, but not commissioner, give LIV credit
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, speaking for the first time Tuesday about the Tour’s designated events with select fields and no cuts in 2024, declined to acknowledge the changes were prompted by LIV Golf.
The rival circuit has taken away 36 players from the PGA Tour with offers of signing bonuses, small fields and $20 million purses.
But the players made it clear what caused the changes.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie,” Rory McIlroy said. “I think the emergence of LIV, or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour, has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf..”
Jon Rahm agreed. “Without LIV Golf, this wouldn’t have happened,” said the world’s No. 1-ranked player. “So to an extent, we should be thankful this threat has made the PGA Tour want to change things.”
Monahan defended the 2024 Tour’s designated events, which haven’t been disclosed but reportedly will include the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, by saying they are different than LIV events in that the field will be determined by a golfer’s play this season.
“I would ask you: ‘Do you think we really look the same?’ ” he said of comparisons to LIV events without mentioning that circuit by name. “The players that are competing in our events in this new format next year will have earned the right to compete in them and they will have earned it through top-50 position in the FedEx Cup this year.”
ELSEWHERE Injured driver Elliott to sit out six weeks
With Chase Elliott expected to miss about six weeks with a broken left leg, Hendrick Motorsports will turn to Josh Berry and sports car racer Jordan Taylor to fill in for NASCAR’s most popular driver.
Hendrick provided a timetable for Elliott’s recovery while saying Berry will continue to drive the No. 9 Chevrolet on ovals and Taylor will make his Cup Series debut on the road course in Austin, Texas later this month.
Elliott fractured his tibia snowboarding last week.
Hockey: Austin Matthews scored on a power play with 2:53 remaining and Toronto beat New Jersey 4-3 at Newark, N.J. The Maples Leafs are 9-0-2 in their past 11 games.
In other NHL games, Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves as Florida defeated Vegas 2-1 at Sunrise, Fla. Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov each had two goals and an assist and Tampa Bay beat visiting Philadelphia 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Sidney Crosby’s powerplay goal 2:45 into overtime finished off a rally from a four-goal deficit as host Pittsburgh beat Columbus. Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout as Carolina won at Montreal 4-3. Josh Bailey and Hudson Fasching each had a goal and an assist in the third period in the New York Islanders’ 3-2 win over visiting Buffalo.
Soccer: American midfielder Christian Pulisic returned from a two-month layoff because of a knee injury, entering in the 83rd minute of Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund that advanced Chelsea to the Champions League quarterfinals.