Two golf worlds collide: PGA and LIV players in one tournament, atmosphere thickens

On Thursday, the DP World Tour’s European circuit has another tournament on the schedule. There would normally be nothing special about it. Only in this case it’s the BMW PGA Championship, which is used to a very diverse cast, including players playing exclusively on the American PGA Tour.

Now, the starting field includes players who have recently given the nod to a generous offer from rival organization LIV Golf. It will be the first time since The Open that players from all the key circuits of the entire dispute, which is likely to come down to a courtroom decision, will meet on the same course.

According to the latest reports, Wentworth Club in Surrey, England, will welcome fifteen professionals who played in last week’s LIV Boston Invitational. Those players have been suspended on the US PGA Tour, but the DP World Tour, which is part of the BMW PGA Championship, is not taking such a harsh approach to these players.

Fresh FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy, for example, will be competing in Surrey from the US PGA. He has been very strict and principled in his opposition since LIV Golf has been on the scene. He said shortly after his victory less than three weeks ago that he couldn’t imagine how he would view these players on the course.

“I hate it, I really do,” he told GolfWeek at the time.The golfer, with his usual open and honest opinion, added: “It’s going to be hard for me to go to Wentworth and see those players there. It just doesn’t sit right with me,” he recounted.

Earlier in the week, most of the players at the venue began to descend. Virtually none of the players wanted to talk publicly about what virtually the entire professional golf world is talking about: “There’s nothing to talk about,” said a grinning Ian Poulter, for example.

Graeme McDowell, for his part, simply replied to reporters that he was in “no comment mode.” It wasn’t until the media centre that there was finally some talk when defending BMW PGA Championship champion Billy Horschel, who is also a big critic of the whole LIV Golf project, took to the microphones.

“There are mixed feelings out here,” he said. “Some players don’t think the LIV guys should be here. There are some who are kind of in the middle with their opinion. Then there are some guys who kind of say: Hey, these guys helped build the DP World Tour, they were part of the Ryder Cups and they helped the European Tour to be successful.’ So they’re OK with it,” he responded quite calmly at the start.

“Even though Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have been stalwarts for the European Tour, I don’t think those guys really should be here,” Horschel said.

“Honestly, I don’t think the American guys should be here. Abraham Ancer, Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak (who withdrew from the event), you never played this tournament, you never supported the DP World Tour. Why are you here? You are here for one reason only. And that’s totry to get points for the world rankings, because you don’t have them on the LIV Tour,” he leaned sharply on the starting field.

He said it was hypocritical for these players to come to the tournament, when a few weeks ago they said they had nodded to the LIV offer to play fewer tournaments and spend more time with their families.

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm made a similar point: “I don’t understand that some players who have never shown an interest in the European Tour, who have never shown an interest in this event, are given the opportunity just because they can get points in the world rankings,” he said, standing next to Horschel.

LIV players can compete on the DP World Tour until at least February 2023, when a British court will decide whether LIV players can be banned from playing in DP World Tour events. That ban has so far been stayed by the courts. However, there is talk behind the scenes that the DP World Tour’s stance might not be as aggressive in the future as the American PGA’s.

LIV representatives, for their part, say that LIV players need have no qualms. They are not the ones who have berated and mistreated their fellow golfers. Either way, the atmosphere before the start of the BMW PGA Championship seems to be properly heated.

Horschel finally got one more juicy question. How would he react if the LIV players left him behind in the starting field after Friday’s round? Or if one of the LIV players had even won the tournament?

“That’s a great question,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I don’t know how to respond. I’ll go shake his hand. I’ll shake anybody’s hand. I’ll congratulate him and say – good game,” he replied to the tricky question.

he concluded by adding, “But let’s just say it wouldn’t help the situation we’re in right now. It wouldn’t be good if that happened. It’s that simple.” Then he said goodbye to the reporters with more pratfalls.

Either way, world golf fans can look forward to a truly extraordinarily spicy spectacle this week.

Source: DP World Tour, GolfWeek, Golf Digest