‘Kind of a joke’: Pro’s $2 mil purse gripe has golf fans buzzing

Chris DiMarco is best known as the guy who almost took down Tiger Woods in his prime.

He famously lost to Woods in a playoff at the 2005 Masters, and again finished runner-up to Woods at the 2006 Open Championship. Just before those two heartbreaks, he lost in a playoff to Vijay Singh at the 2004 PGA Championship. Although DiMarco won four times on the PGA Tour — and netted over $22 million — his career will always include that high-profile series of “what-ifs.”

On Wednesday, however, DiMarco changed his narrative among golf fans after some eyebrow-raising remarks he made on the latest episode of GOLF’s Subpar.

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” DiMarco said. “Let’s play for a little real money out here. This is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC [Sawgrass, host of the Players Championship] that made more money than our purses.”

The comment might’ve been made in jest (you can decide for yourself in the video below — head to the 12:05 mark), but the comments were not received well online. After the comments were picked up on social media, DiMarco caught plenty of heat.

In DiMarco’s five-plus years on the Champions Tour, he’s yet to record a win, and has just four top-10 finishes. But despite his lackluster results, he’s earned over $1.2 million on the retirement circuit.

“You’re talking generational money [LIV] guys are making,” DiMarco said. “They deserve it, they’ve had some great careers — why not go get some money?”

It seems every day the golf discourse is dominated by money talk, and the divide that cash has created may have something to do with the poor TV ratings the sport has garnered this season. It seems as though that point has not landed with the Chris DiMarcos of the world, though — and if social media is any indication, golf fans don’t have much sympathy for his “cause.”

You can listen to the full episode of Subpar here or watch the video below.