The divide in professional golf grew bigger this week in the lead-up to the 122nd U.S. Open.
On one side are the Rory McIlroys and Jay Monahans — unabashedly against the breakaway LIV Golf Invitational Series. Opposite them are Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and the 15 other PGA Tour defectors who cashed in massive paydays from the Saudi-backed tour and played in LIV Golf’s inaugural event last weekend.
In the middle is everyone else: the fans who simply want to see the best golfers face off against each other, and the players who would rather talk about their short game than Greg Norman, Saudi Arabia or the controversy surrounding the new league
Well, the intrigue (and the ire) of LIV Golf doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and this week proved that. Leading up to one of the sport’s four majors — a premier event meant solely to display the best golf in the world — all the talk is about a tournament that ended six days ago and was streamed on YouTube.
“I’m tired of the conversations. I’m tired of all this stuff,” said Brooks Koepka, whose brother, Chase, played in the LIV opener. “Y’all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks. I actually do feel bad for the [USGA] for once because it’s a s——— situation. We’re here to play, and you are talking about an event that happened last week.”
