There’s a growing rift in the golf world between the long-standing PGA Tour and the start-up Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, in which Greg Norman is the CEO.
Norman’s league now has a schedule and will play its first event in June, but who will play in it remains unknown. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has previously said any Tour members who join the breakaway league will be banned from the PGA Tour, although there is some uncertainty regarding the legalities around such a threat.
Either way, this topic isn’t going away any time soon. And opinions are aplenty. John Daly, the 55-year-old fan favorite, has one too, which he was asked for while at the ClubCorp Classic last week. His solution? The two leagues should work together.
“I just wish maybe they could combine them and make it all work out to where it benefits everybody,” Daly said. “And the name of it is golf. I mean, you want to keep golf going and keep it strong, and the foundation of the European Tour and the foundation of the Asian Tour and the Australian Tour and all the tours and our tour, players have kind of built that through a lot of great sponsorships that we’ve had. You know, I just think if they could work it out together it would be really good instead of competing against each other.”
Daly added that he has not been offered to play in Norman’s league. (In fact, a report from Sports Illustrated on Monday said 15 of the world top 100 have registered for the first event, but no names were unveiled.)
“The concept is great,” Daly continued. “I mean, it would be great if they could just work out for both sides where it becomes, you know, a PGA Tour under their umbrella or a Saudi umbrella, where it works for the money list on our tour and just see what happens that way.”
However, based off previous comments from Monahan, it doesn’t sound like the PGA Tour is ready to team up quite yet. But now you know where Long John Daly stands.
