When talking about the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger, you will get two kinds of responses. The first being Scottie Scheffler’s. Active at Colonial, the World No. 1 blamed the LIV stars for the state of the men’s professional golf: “I have said it a few times this year: If you want to figure out what’s going to happen in the game of golf, go to the other tour and ask those guys.” The other kind of response you’d get is from Viktor Hovland, who blames it all on Jay Monahan & co. At The PLAYERS Championship, the young golfer said, “As a leader of an organization, I will want a person like that to take some ownership and say, hey, we made a couple of mistakes, but this is how we’re going to rectify it, instead of kind of sweeping it under the rug, which I felt like has been done to a certain degree.” Just like Scheffler, Hovlan’s tune about the PGA Tour hasn’t changed.
Viktor Hovland’s dissatisfaction with the PGA Tour is age-old, if anything. In 2023, soon after Jon Rahm jumped the ship and promised his allegiance to LIV Golf, Hovland said, “I totally understand why he left. That’s a lot, a lot of money.” Of course, that came in line with his complaints about the U.S. circuit’s management: “The management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labor, and not as part of the members.” Considering Hovland decided to stick with the Tour anyway, you’d think his feelings for Jay Monahan & co. would have gotten better. However, that is not the case, especially now.
Currently active at The Memorial Tournament, the golfer hasn’t changed his tune. In fact, he even admits that he “misses” playing with some former PGA Tour players. “Yeah, it’s kind of weird. I basically turned pro right in the middle of COVID, and that’s five years ago, and it’s like — yeah, it just feels weird. It feels like it almost didn’t happen anymore. It’s like we’re in a different timeline right now.
“Yeah, things have definitely gone fast, but then we’re still kind of in the same position, kind of in a stalemate. So it’s a little bit weird, but certainly miss some of those guys. But, yeah, got to focus on my things this week.”
This is a developing story…
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