As Rory McIlroy said: “Money talks”.
And the whole world has been listening.
The golf split saga has been going on for so long that the people in the middle of it have totally lost perspective.
They’ve been consumed by winning battles, settling scores and, most of all, finding a way to make the most money.
It’s maybe not fair to compare sports but having been at the elite end of a minority one for a long time, you do feel like saying to them all “do you not know how lucky you are?”
If there’s a PGA or LIV professional who isn’t a millionaire then he’ll be in a small minority.
Nobody has come out of this merger (more like a takeover) looking great.
The people negotiating didn’t even have the courtesy to give a heads-up to the members they’re supposed to be running their tours for.
Now that the initial shock has died down, there are far more questions than answers.
The biggest one is – how on earth are they going to bring the PGA Tour deserters back into the fold?
Rory McIlroy believes the PGA Tour needs to financially compensate PGA Tour players after the recent partnership with the Saudi Arabian PIF.
I’m lost now. I thought this whole argument was purely about history, legacy and the source of the money?
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) June 8, 2023
It’s one thing peace breaking out between the executives behind the scenes but another thing altogether in the locker room and on the fairways.
At the moment it’s guys like Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau who are coming across like the winners, having banked tens of millions and now looking at the prospect of a quick return to the PGA Tour with their pockets full.
I’m sure golf’s bosses want them back – that’s part of what will be driving all this – but the loyalists will want their pound of flesh.
McIlroy has hinted as much, and he’s one of the more diplomatic ones!
I know people say that it’s reopened the possibility of Poulter, Garcia, Westwood and Stenson captaining Europe.
But wounds will be deep.
Over the next couple of years we could find out that the uneasy truce that seemed to have been reached was actually better for the image of golf than what’s going to come next – in-fighting and recriminations.
I do think that there’s been some serious damage done to the sport.
This week’s greed-fest has been such a big turn-off.
British Curling have announced their line-ups for next season’s funded programme.
It’s absolutely no surprise that the top two men’s teams haven’t been changed.
They’re both in a really good place.
And it’s no surprise that my old team-mate, Jen Dodds, has been added to the main women’s group.
Olympic Champ Jen Dodds returns to team game as British Curling announces curlers selected for 2023-24 season.
▶️https://t.co/hxI5gOHNbq
📸WCF/Jeffrey Au, Celine Stucki & Alina Pavlyuchik.#curling pic.twitter.com/r9Vbyo11Rh— British Curling (@BritishCurling) June 1, 2023
I’ll be interested to see how Fay Henderson gets on as skip of a team that will include Hailey Duff, our Olympic-winning lead.
I think Fay has real potential.
Her other World Junior team-mates have been kept together.
There’s been a change off the ice as well.
With executive performance director, Nigel Holl, taking on a secondment at UK Sport, Dave Leith has stepped up as interim.
I’ve known Dave for over a decade and, with him and Greg Drummond at the helm, the sport has two good operators to lead us forward at the elite end of the game.
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