Lanto Griffin, PGA Tour winner and Player Advisory Council Member, spoke about his ideas for the Tour and how to ensure the future for golf during the turbulence of the past few years.
We spent some time in the offseason asking some questions um with a tour and just trying to get some answers trying to get some transparency um with everything that’s going on uh in the game of golf it’s it’s crazy to sit back uh I was thinking about our interview today last night and
Just thinking back on how much golf has changed since since the the co pandemic and Liv came along um it’s hard to recognize the PGA Tour and the schedule and everything that’s going on uh it’s kind of wild so I’m excited to be on the
Pack it’s cool to have a voice um I think it’s needed uh I think this is a kind of a critical time in golf and and for the PGA Tour so hopefully we can write the ship and and try and settle things down and and ultimately get back
To golf and and talk about Golf and not talk about schedule changes and Signature Events and and other leagues the live tour and and um that’s the goal is is to give golf fans really good Golf and and the level of play on the PJ tour
Right now um is incredible I think Nick dunlop’s win at at AMX is it’s going to go down in history it’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen I was I was there that week 27 underpar for the first three rounds was insane and then
For him to close it out playing with Sam Burns and and Justin Thomas and the or maybe yeah final group um just shows you how deep golf is um and it’s it’s pretty exciting time when you when you look at the talent when you when you think of your role on the pack
Lanto how would you define it what do you hope to accomplish I know I’m going to be very firm um I’m I’m I’m opinionated um but at the same time I feel like I’m I’m fair to the point where I know I can recognize how important the top players
Are and and how valuable they are and how much we owe to them in the game of golf but I also want to be an advocate for uh rookies on tour the entire membership and ultimately the what’s best for the game of golf um the last few years like I mentioned earlier it’s
Been tough mentally um just always changing the landscape changing ideally um we’d get some kind of agreement worked out between the top players and the rest of the membership and the management to where look if you go out and you play good golf you’re going to
Move up if you don’t play good golf you’re going to move down and and that’s you know the meritocracy that that sport should be it’s everything should be determined on the field or on the course or on the court nothing should be determined in a boardroom U when it
Comes to sports and and and that’s kind of my view on it and that’s what I’m going to fight for um but at the same time I want to be fair and and and hopefully we can all come together and and come to an agreement do you feel
Like the equity that that you’re aspiring to do you feel like that is in the pathway right now now or is that something that needs to be built that’s a good question I mean we we worked pretty hard in the off season just to get some answers and trying to
Figure out exactly why these things are happening and and being voted on the pack by my peers is is obviously um you know humbling and and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it um but that’s that’s to be seen I guess um hopefully we can get some things done and and
Everybody is happy and I I do know one thing we we we talk about this you know the live golf league and the PJ tour there there’s so much talent in the game of golf to where in in a weird way there’s room for two leagues um I don’t
Necessarily think it’s the best thing for the PJ tour in the game of golf but we’re not going to change that and that’s fine um I think we need to look going forward we need to look at the young guys and and the young stars that
Are coming up the PJ tour has created every Star in the game of golf offl at least on the US side of of the pond you know so if you look at a will zot tus or you look at a Sam Burns or some of these upand cominging young superstars the PJ
Tour is the reason why they are is because they’ve played really well and they’ve gotten a lot of TV time and they’ve they’ve won some big championships so that’s going to keep happening whether guys leave for live or or guys you know remain on the PJ tour
Golf’s in a really health healthy spot with with what college golf’s done and in the corn fairy tour and yeah it’s just crazy how deep golf is
2 Comments
Brooks became a star in Europe.
Now this pga tour board has to deal with these two?
Again the pga tour still does not know what it wants.
Lanto just wants everything to go back to 2019
That’s not the way life works buddy …
But even then people were unhappy. Players or fans or whoever.
Just as the fields should determine who moves up or down, sometimes business determines who keeps a job and who doesn’t.
Of course I can see how pga tour journeymen think the guilt trip
Strategy would work, because that’s what pga tour brass do.
I would tell
Lanto to focus on his game. He’s a good player. He’s gonna work and work and work
For what ?
The powers that be will determine where this all goes..how many journeymen get to keep a dream job that overpays them despite not being very competitive or bringing any other value to the table …it’s not ever going to be determined by lanto griffin. So why risk the loss of focus?
Does Lanto know what's the best thing for pro golf?