Jordan Spieth is the latest big-name PGA Tour player to be quizzed on the future of the product as Tour officials remain locked in talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Jay Monahan and Adam Scott’s meeting with Donald Trump has provided renewed optimism that the professional game will soon be healed. Currently, LIV players are banned from competing in PGA Tour-sanctioned events.
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard even suggested LIV Golf stars could feature at The Players Championship, but such an eventuality feels far-fetched at the moment.
The looming possibility of LIV golfers returning is a concern for lesser-known PGA Tour players, many of whom play week in and week out to secure long-term financial stability.
Speaking ahead of the Cognizant Classic, Jordan Spieth revealed that several players have contacted him over the past year to discuss the future of the Tour.
“I would say over the last year and a half, I spent actually a lot of time, more than ever, listening to guys, reaching out to some, plenty of guys reaching out to me and hearing what they’re saying,” Spieth said.
“And then, yeah, I mean, what’s ended up really happening with the solution to when guys have — I don’t want to call it complaints, but when things come up like that, it gets directed to Tour management that go through either a statistic analysis on what they’re saying to give them more information, stuff like that, where it’s — if it’s the points difference and then saying, hey, we’re willing to adjust, we just want to see a season first, stuff like that, and that has been done. That was done for this season.”
Spieth added: “The idea is to try to get everything as fair as possible while creating the most opportunities for the top guys to be playing the best golf courses and the best tournaments as often as possible together, and having pathways to create stars coming up from Canada, Latin America, through the Korn Ferry, on to the PGA Tour, being able to have Ludvig come up and immediately make an impact into the most significant events.
“Those kind of pathways are what the Tour has always been about. So having a combination of the bunch, I think is what’s going into the future product model, and everyone ideally is being heard. Again, I’d like to emphasize again that I’m no longer involved and can’t speak for everyone in the past few months. But prior to that, I’d spent a lot of time talking with a lot of players and trying to direct them—not giving my opinion. I don’t have the answers—but trying to direct them to the people who have the answers.”
