WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – It’s all about perspective. It can be considered a peace treaty but at its core, it’s just an agreement on paper to share resources.
What we found during the practice round of the LIV Golf event at the Greenbrier was a completely separate golf product that all the players here clearly favor.
The PGA tour has stopped at the Greenbrier nine times but LIV Golf looks right at home in White Sulphur Springs and so do its players.
“We are having a great time out here, and having fun again,” said Louis Oosthuizen the 2010 Open Champion. “And something different be part of a team is very special. "
“Every time they are trying to do it better and better so I’m hoping this goes a long way and keeps improving,” said Mito Pereira who has 10 professional wins in his career.
While PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan wrestles with the Tours’ future amid growing tensions, the LIV golfers response is everybody wins--LIV, the PGA and the communities that they touch.
“A lot of us captains out here, not just Phil, but everyone included understand the vision of what we are trying to produce from a franchise model to impacting communities is understated most of the time,” said 2020 US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau. “And the details I could go into it’s a 20-30 minute conversation how it impacts communities because if you look at what Australia did 100 million dollars economic impact in that area that’s just a fraction of what we can unleash with this potential.”
“At the end of the day I think everybody is benefiting from LIV golf-directly or indirectly,” said 2018 PGA Greenbrier Champion Kevin Na. “The haters are going to say whatever they want but at the end of the day it’s making golf more interesting, it’s making golf and the golfers richer-and theirs nothing wrong with a little bit of competition.”
At the moment there doesn’t seem to be a path where a golfer may be able to play on all three tours in one calendar year, but seeing all three tours continuing to coexist and with added resources--should benefit the game of golf for years to come.