Mackenzie Hughes spoke to the media ahead of The Sentry in Hawaii about the turbulence of the past few years in golf with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf splitting players allegiances.
The live threat came along and all of a sudden we started to double the purses and we’re asking sponsors to double their investment and we’re giving them the same product and fans also I think are left wondering like do guys even love playing golf anymore or are
They all just concerned about money and all these guys going to live have made it pretty clear that it’s all about money uh I mean growing the game but also money um again we have the same product that we had in 2019 yet we want this like increased
Investment like not just increased but like increased in a big way and I just think that the product I mean well I think it’s great is it’s the same product and I I just think fans are kind of left scratch in their head thinking like what is what is going on I
Mean they also don’t know where you know certain guys are playing and you know there’s like you know spats between the live and the PGA Tour and it’s not unified in any way shape or form and there’s negotiations going on that are unclear and they’ve been
Dragged on for a long time and the fan just wants to watch golf you know and I think you you watch sports for like an escape from other nonsense but I think golf has brought a lot of nonsense onto its plate not everyone out here is just
Thinking like oh like let’s make these perks is $30 million like that sounds great like no it doesn’t because in two years the pga2 will have no one sponsoring any tournaments because no one wants to pay these prices also there’s a lot of guys that feel entitled out here like you start
To see all these big amounts of money flying around and this offer and that offer and people think oh well I I stayed loyal like where’s my money and it’s like you’re not entitled to play the PGA like you have the right and like you are you have a privilege to play out
Here and it’s it’s an opportunity but it’s not like anyone owes you anything no ‘s you know forcing your hand like you don’t have to stay you can go play over there if you want um so like this whole you know the tour owes me something attitude I don’t like either
The the tour obviously misses guys like Brooks Kea um Phil TJ cam Smith like there’s no doubt that the tour is stronger with those guys playing so I think that I’d love to see a way for those guys to play again but how do you just
So how do you justify to a guy like like I’m sure the speeds and the jts and the Rory’s and the Scotties and The Willow touristes who off offered major amounts of money and decided not to go and stayed and then the got the guys that
Left and you maybe play two years of Live And then you make your way back to the tour and it’s like all all things are good again I think those are the guys you have to worry about making the most upset like if okay they made 150 million
And now they’re going to come back and play on your tour like nothing ever happened so I just don’t know how that gets navigated um and maybe they’ll have to just kind of take take on the chin and just suck it up but that’s the outcome I hope for is that those guys
Eventually find their way back here and play consistently out here and we find a way to coexist as live and PGA Tour and it goes kind of that that bitterness and that rivalry and the divisiveness in golf goes away and it becomes about who’s playing the best golf who’s
Playing the best golf in the biggest tournaments and you start talking about like major moments in golf not just like major moments in the headlines or on Fox News when John Rob says he’s going to live golf like I’m just tired of talking about that stuff so um that’s the
Outcome I hope I we get to someday but who knows when
