PGA of America Chief Seth Waugh says LIV cannot survive just burning through cash

Surprisingly, the chief executive of the PGA of America cites the injured British 400m sprinter Derek Redmond hobbling home in tears at the 1992 Olympics, propped up by his father who had broken a security cordon to get onto the track in Barcelona. It could be a metaphor for golf in its time of change – hamstrung, pained and going round in circles. The former Deutsche Bank boss says he wants the game “to come back together”, but sees LIV Golf as flawed, thinks it has accomplished little, and warns the quest for ranking points, and validation for the Saudi-backed circuit, could be a long way off being realised.

In addition, he says there will be no blanket ban on the United States captain Zach Johnson picking LIV men for the Ryder Cup at the end of September.

“To say he doesn’t have the ability or right to do that would be wrong,” Waugh says. “If the captain decides a person can fit his team chemistry and gives the team the best chance to win, we will talk about that. It’s complicated.”

The PGA of America is a distinct body from the PGA Tour and stages the US PGA Championship, as well as co-administering the Ryder Cup. Waugh is also on the governing board of Official World Golf Ranking, which makes him uniquely placed to offer his perspective on the golf landscape and next week’s clash at Oak Hill. “The good news is the Masters went first and set the stage for, frankly, civility,” he says. “That’s the tone we want – nobody died, right? I lived in a world of disruption my whole business career and disruption is generally healthy. It makes you better, and the game is better.”

That sounds positive for the LIV lobby, but Waugh was highlighting the PGA Tour’s response by creating a series of dollars 20 million (about pounds 15.9 million) designated events and more elite head-to-heads. “I don’t think division is good for the game,” he says. “Hopefully, it’s good for those individuals that have made whatever decisions they have, but the game has moved on. It’s amplified those who have stayed and the ones who left have largely disappeared – in terms of an exposure perspective.”

LIV Golf is bankrolled by dollars 2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, but Waugh thinks it has failed to provide either a better product or better pricing. “Their logic about the team play being something significant that people can get behind I think is flawed,” he says. “I don’t think people care about it. And I don’t see how it’s a survivable business model. They can fund it for as long as they want to, but no matter how much money you have, at some point burning it doesn’t feel very good.

“I don’t see they are accomplishing much. It seems logical that you would work towards some sort of agreement. I hope the game comes back together.”

That seems highly unlikely given the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are embroiled in lawsuits, but where does this leave the Ryder Cup? American players must be PGA of America members to play and gain that status by being PGA Tour members. But Waugh said players who have resigned have a grace period and that extends until June 2024. “Our rules were set up to cast the net wider,” he says. “It was meant to include people, not exclude them. We have not changed those rules. We may do but did not think it was fair to change midstream.”

Would a decision to have LIV players at the Ryder Cup be taken unilaterally or would both teams need to have the same policy? “We have a very close relationship with our partners in Europe,” he says. “I don’t know that we’d ask permission, but we’d certainly discuss. There’s possible and then there’s likely; a lot of things are theoretically possible that aren’t very likely.”

Asked where a LIV Ryder Cup presence sits on this spectrum, Waugh said he would let people draw their own conclusions, but added that the US tends to pick from the top 15 players in the points list. “The captain will look at who is battle hardened – who’s playing in the elevated events, on the Tour every week, the majors, FedEx Cup,” he says. “That’s more battle hardened than the alternative.”

Of course, LIV players could protest that their chances of making the top 15 are nigh-on impossible when not receiving world-ranking points. Waugh said the problems with the LIV application for points are not down to their tournaments having only 54 holes and no cut. “There are parts of their structure that can be solved by math, but there may be some fundamental things that are harder,” he says.

“There’s the potential conflict with the team aspect and then access – how do you get relegated and promoted? They had our latest response weeks ago and we haven’t heard back.”

Can they expect ranking points by the start of next season? “I can’t speculate because they have not responded. They may have to solve things as well and it’s not clear whether they’re willing to.”

With the LIV-PGA Tour rivalry entering another round in Rochester next week, the Redmond memory becomes increasingly relevant as another sporting struggle seems set to become more of a marathon than a sprint.

-The Times

Originally published as PGA of America Chief Seth Waugh says LIV cannot survive just burning through cash