Connect with us

19th Hole

Butch Harmon takes aim at outspoken PGA Tour pros saying they ‘ought to thank’ LIV rebels

Published

on

Despite the many wrangles since, it was Phil Mickelson who initially mentioned using LIV Golf as ‘leverage’ against the ‘restrictions’ of the PGA Tour.

In the infamous interview with golf journalist Alan Shipnuck, Lefty was clear in his reasoning for considering the Saudi-backed league, saying:

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates,” adding, “They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as [Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I’m not sure I even want [the SGL] to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour.”

Rumbles of players transferring to the Greg Norman-led tour have rarely ceased since, and last August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced several and significant enhancements to the PGA Tour and its schedule – seen by many as a direct consequence of the financial rewards offered to those prepared to jump ship.

Mickelson has since been at pains to point out the apparent coincidence, and last week Butch Harmon revealed he viewed the situation similarly.

Harmon, who coached Mickelson for several years after splitting with Lefty’s great rival, Tiger Woods, appeared on an episode of the 5 Clubs podcast last week saying,

LIV is “not the devil that’s out there that’s portrayed.”

Just before the Tour Championship in September, Harmon was asked his view on players moving over to the rebel tour.

“I think the PR of the LIV has not been good,” he said. “The guys should have got together and be honest. This ‘I’m going to grow the game better’ – no, that has nothing to do with it; you’re not growing any game. They’re growing their bank accounts. Which every sportsman has the right to do – to get the best deal you can get.”

Although very much a pro-PGA Tour personality alongside the likes of Woods and Rory McIlroy, he is clear that he is not “anti-LIV Golf like a lot of people,” believing that the current crop should be grateful for the existence of the LIV organization, hinting, like Mickelson, that the changes came about only because of the creation of the Saudi tour.

 “The PGA Tour that have been very vocal against the guys on the LIV Tour ought to thank them,” Harmon said. “… because all of a sudden the Tour found $250 million to raise their prize money to get those elite tournaments up to 20 million prize money — oh yes, just like LIV.”   

More from the 19th Hole

Your Reaction?
  • 98
  • LEGIT22
  • WOW4
  • LOL5
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK19

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. B

    Feb 6, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    Butch is God

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

19th Hole

‘You’re a f*****g traffic cone!’ – Brooks Koepka heckles Aaron Ekblad at Florida Panthers game

Published

on

Brooks Koepka is preparing to play in this week’s LIV event in Orlando. While in Florida, the four-time major champion attended a Florida Panthers game.

At the game, Koepka was seen taunting Aaron Ekblad, who was the first overall pick in the draft in 2014, with a traffic cone.

Brooks can be seen in the video yelling, “Ekblad you suck” as well as calling him a “traffic cone” with the prop in hand.

So far this season, Koepka has finished 31st at LIV Mayakoba and 29th at LIV Tucson. He’ll be teeing it up at The Masters next week in search of his 5th major championship.

More from the 19th Hole

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK2

Continue Reading

19th Hole

‘Never mind the Masters’ – Gary Player explains why he ranks the Masters dead last of all the majors

Published

on

In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about which major championship he believes is the best among them. The 87-year-old won nine major championships, including the Masters three times and The Open Championship three times.

“But never mind the Masters, the Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet.”

Interestingly, Player ranked the Masters fourth of the four majors.

“I rate the Open at one, the US Open two, PGA three and Augusta four,’ he adds. Four marvelous tournaments.”

When asked why he ranked the Masters after the other three, Player said it was because the others have been around longer.

“It’s the youngest of the majors. The others are steeped in tradition and history, and they still have to catch up. Nothing comes to the top without time.”

Speaking of The Masters, Player also spoke about Rory McIlroy’s quest for the career grand slam, of which he’s still one green jacket short. Player believes McIlroy will win and needs to do so sooner rather than later to cement his spot amongst the greatest players of all time.

‘He’s got the best swing in the world by a mile,’ Player says. ‘He’s won four majors but none since 2014. I think he will win the Masters because the course is made for him. I think if he does that, he’ll go down as one of the greats, but that’s something he has to do.

“I’ve always said my judgment of superstars is they have to win six majors. People these days say anyone who wins is a superstar. No. It’s not easily done, but I believe Rory can.”

More from the 19th Hole

Your Reaction?
  • 90
  • LEGIT18
  • WOW11
  • LOL20
  • IDHT4
  • FLOP12
  • OB8
  • SHANK87

Continue Reading

19th Hole

Golf legend says this was the biggest mistake of Tiger’s career

Published

on

At one stage in his career, it looked as if Tiger Woods becoming the record major holder was a formality, but for whatever factors that never materialised.

In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about Tiger Woods and his quest to break Jack Nicklaus’s major championship record, and has his own view on why Tiger never surpassed Jack’s record.

Player, who won nine major championships himself, said that he believes Ben Hogan was the “greatest” golfer he’d ever seen, but Tiger Woods was the most talented.

‘The greatest I ever saw was Ben Hogan,’ he says. ‘He went to war for five years and then had a terrible car accident, so never played in 30 majors. Nobody had a streak like he had (winning his nine majors in the space of 16 starts). If I was a young boy today, I’d watch his swing from 1953 every day.”

‘Tiger Woods was the most talented golfer the planet has ever seen but he made a few bad decisions, which we all do.”

“Having lessons when he won the US Open by 15 shots was inconceivable — if he never went for a lesson, he would have won 20 majors minimum and he would have beat Nicklaus’s record.”

Player is referencing the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which Woods won by 15 shots. Just two years later, Tiger completely renovated his golf swing, which in retrospect looks as if it may have been a mistake.

More from the 19th Hole

Your Reaction?
  • 66
  • LEGIT19
  • WOW6
  • LOL7
  • IDHT2
  • FLOP4
  • OB1
  • SHANK23

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending