‘Pickleball was bigger than their 2 stars’: Nick Faldo again slams LIV Golf 

Nick Faldo is continuing to jab LIV Golf, saying “pickleball was bigger than their two stars in a playoff” and questioning the motives of pros who joined the Saudi-funded league. 

Speaking this week to Phil Casey of the PA News Agency (whose complete story you can read here), Faldo also said that LIV is “an island” and that it should continue to play as a separate tour. LIV is currently in its third season while its backer, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, negotiates a funding deal with the PGA Tour, the circuit it’s competing against, though those talks are now in their 14th month. 

“That’s absolutely fine with me, go and play their tour,” Faldo said. 

In the PA News Agency story, the six-time major winner then noted LIV’s ratings, seemingly citing a tweet that said the CW Network’s broadcast of LIV Golf’s Greenbrier tournament drew a smaller audience than ESPN’s broadcast of a professional pickleball event. In the Greenbrier tournament, Brooks Koepka defeated Jon Rahm in a playoff to win.

“I think we are now seeing that, wow, they’ve had three seasons and they haven’t made much impact on the [viewing] numbers,” Faldo said in the story. “Quite amusingly, pickleball was bigger than their two stars in a playoff, the sort of excitement everyone wants. But it got beat for viewership by pickleball.

“I think bottom line is that the players have got the last laugh because they are being rewarded so much either through the size of the prize money or appearance fees and they are not moving the needle. And I can’t see that changing because, as we know, it’s been so damaging to the public’s attitude to golf. I still talk to my producer friends in TV, and people are just not watching. It’s hurt the attitude towards golf.

“I did 18 years of television, and I was told not to talk about prize money. When the [PGA Tour’s] FedEx Cup went to 10 million, I went, ‘Wow, look at this, this putt is worth 10 million!’ That was about the only time I mentioned money, and now, all of a sudden, it’s ridiculous amounts. It’s really changed it.”

Also in the PA News Agency story, Faldo also wondered about LIV players’ plans. Notably, many left the PGA Tour for large, guaranteed contracts, but the tour has yet to gain world-ranking points, a key to playing in major championships. 

“I think they all thought why don’t I run off and get all these hundreds of blooming millions and they’ll sort it out in two years and I’ll come back with a boatload,” Faldo said in the PA News Agency story. “I don’t think it is going to work like that and it shouldn’t, to be honest. Fine, LIV go and do their thing. They say they are going to supercharge excitement in golf – good luck.

“Some people think they can change the excitement level or view of it, but golf is golf. Golf is outdoor chess. The number one goal in golf as a player is to come up the last with a three-shot lead or more, isn’t it?

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“But you have people saying, ‘Well, that wasn’t very exciting, a bit anticlimactic’. But every player out there wants to come down the last two holes with a cushion.”

The thoughts continue a series of jabs from Faldo toward LIV and its CEO, Greg Norman. More recently, ahead of last year’s Masters, Faldo had this to say, in an interview with the Telegraph:

“I’m not against them,” Faldo said. “They decided the grass is greener on their tour. Fine. The gripes I get is when he [Norman] said these things about doing it to grow the game of golf. We’ve all been here 40 years or more, hang on, mate. The fact is they got a ridiculous cash offer, which for some of them was the right thing to do. 

“But as we said, it’s gone very quiet. So good luck with changing the game.”

Then, last September, in a video posted to Twitter, Faldo wore a blue T-shirt, with a white shark on it and the words “Quint’s Shark Fishing,” a reference to the movie “Jaws” — and had this exchange with a person in the background.

“Sir Nick, when was the last time you went shark-hunting?”

Faldo looked down at his shirt. He answered. 

“Um, 1996,” he said, then laughed. “April ’96 was my last shark hunt.” 

“How did it go?”

“Did well. I didn’t need a bigger boat, if you know what I mean,” he said, laughing. “The boat was big enough.”

What happened in “April ’96?” Faldo won the Masters, the sixth of his six major victories. He had started the round six back of Greg Norman, then shot a 67, while Norman shot a 78. 

And Norman is nicknamed “Shark.”