Jack Nicklaus would love to see the world’s top golfers play together more often, but he admits that figuring out how to make that happen is beyond him.
Speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament, where he serves as the host, Nicklaus was questioned about the potential reunification of men’s professional golf. His response was candidly uncertain: ‘It’s a question I don’t know how to answer.’
The Memorial Tournament, one of the PGA Tour’s marquee events, boasts a $20 million purse and features many top-ranked players. This elevated status and prize money emerged after LIV Golf lured several elite players away with lucrative offers.
‘You can look at it two ways,’ said the 84-year-old Nicklaus. ‘One is that we’ll have a very successful tournament here and a lot of PGA Tour tournaments will have very successful tournaments and have great fields and great players. I think the LIV tournaments have had—you know, have some good players and they have—and they compete at the major championships.’
While he acknowledges that more frequent competition between PGA Tour and LIV Golf players would be beneficial, Nicklaus reiterated that the complexities of making that happen are beyond his expertise. ‘I don’t know whether that’s imperative that [reunification] happen. I think it would be better if they all played together more often. I do think that. But, you know, that’s above my pay grade, I think, to really answer that 100% because I don’t know all the ramifications of it.’
Ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV’s backers, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, have yet to yield significant progress, even though it’s been almost a year since a surprising merger was announced. Currently, the stars from both circuits only meet at the four major championships.
Recounting an anecdote from the Masters, Nicklaus shared a conversation with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. Nicklaus asked, somewhat vaguely, if the Tour was doing okay because he didn’t want to lie to the press. Monahan simply replied, ‘We’re doing fine,’ to which Nicklaus said, ‘That’s all I need to know.’
When asked about broader issues in professional golf, Nicklaus humorously distanced himself from the ongoing problems. ‘I’m 84 years old…I’m a few years removed and I don’t think that I’m in the middle of that. I’m trying to be in the middle of the Memorial Tournament and be involved in that. I think that there are a lot smarter people and a lot better people that are better versed on what’s going on than I as it relates to the problems of the game of golf.’
For now, Jack Nicklaus remains focused on his role with the Memorial Tournament and leaves the resolution of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s complex issues to those more closely involved.
Source: Espn
