Memorial Championship winner Billy Horschel, who is currently 15th in the world of golf, on Tuesday responded to some of what was said last week at the LIV Golf Invitational event in Portland, not throwing punches. In fact, there was a moment when she left the summit where you could almost see him asking himself, “Should I do this?” He then used the term “hypocrites” to describe some of the players who jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, and from there set off to the races.
It’s a great idea from someone who was close to the whole process. Horschel is part of the 2022 Player Advisory Board, which means he is part of a group that “advises and consults with the PGA Tour Policy Board and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the Tour.”
“There are a lot of hypocrites, who don’t tell the truth, who lie about some things,” said Horschel. “I can’t bear to sit here anymore and be as diplomatic about it as I have been in the past. I don’t blame anyone for going to play the LIV Tour. I don’t have any ill intent for anyone who is going to play the LIV Tour. I have bad intent on the comments they made. Comments She says Jay Monahan is not listening to the PGA Tour.The PGA Tour is not listening to us.
Jay Monahan and everyone at headquarters he is PGA Tour. They work tirelessly to reap the financial rewards and we have all the opportunities that we have. Meanwhile, I’m one of over 200 members on the PGA Tour. I’m a PGA Tour, just like 200 others are a PGA Tour. So when you take pictures on the PGA Tour and Jay Monahan, you don’t just take pictures of them, you take pictures of us. [the players]. To say they don’t listen is a complete farce, it really is. If they listened to everything all the 200+ members of the PGA Tour had to say, our tour would be a complete mess. We’re not even going to tour.”
Much of what Hurschel said on the Tuesday before the Scottish Open was in response to Last week’s press conference In Portland where Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez ignited the PGA Tour, saying she hadn’t listened to their thoughts and requests while noting it was a place that kept them from coming home and spending time with their families. Perez, in particular, Refers to a moment from last year In it, he said he was forced to stay in the first FedEx Cup playoff event and lost the birth of his son.
“It’s ridiculous to hear some of these comments made by some of these guys,” Horschel added. Saying, ‘Well, that allows me to play fewer tournaments. I play 30-35 weeks a year. Nobody forced you to play these many events. The PGA Tour suggests 15 events minimum – all you have to do is play 15 events, if you keep your card in those 15 events, that’s fine. If you want to play better or play More until you have a chance to win the FedEx Cup, so be it. Nobody made you play that first watershed event to miss out on family commitments. Nobody has.”
LIV Golf will require participants to play 14 tournaments in 2023. There is no minimum for the PGA Tour, although to remain a voting member you must play 15 events, including the major tournaments, and many feel the need to play more to stay in the top 125 in the FedEx Cup and kept their PGA Tour tickets for the following season.
“Yes, we are independent contractors,” Horschel said. “We sign a contract with the PGA Tour that requires us to meet certain requirements of the PGA Tour. But we have the opportunity to set our schedule. To say we have to play X number of events and they have no downtime, nobody makes you… I just got sick of these comments. Go. And enjoy the LIV and forget about the PGA Tour. Didn’t want to support the PGA Tour going forward. Don’t tell me they’ll play LIV when they go to 14 events and then go play 15 events on the PGA Tour and play at 29. That’s not a smaller table. You don’t play less.”
There is a lot to be said – and a lot has already been said – about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf scuttlebutt. Horschel was closer than the others in terms of seeing both sides of what was going on, and his words about hypocrites and scheduling are intriguing. But what was even more It was interesting what he said about how the players are shaping up for the PGA Tour. That’s right, of course, and that’s something Justin Thomas is like Also hinted at recently. The PGA Tour differs from other sports in that players do not play for owners. Instead, in a reductive fashion, the players be the owners.
What this means is that the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf does not present a situation where suit-wearing CEOs are facing each other for the rights to the sport’s future. Rather, since the PGA Tour and its members are the same entity, this is (and will continue to be) a player-vs-player feud, which is part of what makes it so compelling.
