Viktor Hovland mentioned he utterly understands why Jon Rahm signed with the LIV Golf League, however the world’s No. 4-ranked participant does not plan to be the subsequent marquee participant to bolt to the Saudi-backed league.
In an look on the “Fore” podcast in Norway, Hovland mentioned he doubts he would transfer to LIV Golf, principally due to the league’s no-cut format. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the large sum of cash Rahm signed for — reported to be greater than $550 million together with contract and signing bonuses — whereas taking goal on the “vanity” of the PGA Tour’s management.
“It could be a bit too foolish to criticize the gamers for leaving. In spite of everything, you solely hear one angle within the media, and there are fairly just a few totally different components taking place on the similar time right here,” Hovland mentioned in Norwegian as translated by Eurosport Norway, per Golfweek. “I completely perceive why he left. That is quite a bit, some huge cash.”
Hovland’s star standing has taken off in 2023, highlighted by successful the FedEx Cup title in August and the $18 million bonus that got here with it. He additionally received the Memorial and the second leg of the playoffs on the BMW Championship, and he tied for second at each the PGA Championship and the DP World Tour Championship.
It has been an immensely rewarding yr for Hovland on the course, however his earnings can be dwarfed by a possible provide from LIV Golf. Hovland, 26, asserted that the format nonetheless doesn’t enchantment to him.
“I do not assume their product is that nice. I am not such a fan of, for instance, enjoying and not using a minimize,” Hovland mentioned. “You want the competitors with 150 gamers and a minimize. When you do not play nicely sufficient, you are out. There’s something about it that makes your sport slightly sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I do not assume I might have change into a greater golfer. After which it’s, in a manner, finish of dialogue.”
Hovland has dedicated to the season-opening The Sentry in Maui, which is a no-cut occasion, together with the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, the WM Phoenix Open and the Genesis Invitational.
Rahm had equally robust objections to LIV Golf’s format earlier than he signed with the league. He has been suspended from the PGA Tour, stopping the Spanish golfer from enjoying in The Sentry forward of LIV Golf’s first occasion of 2024.
Hovland was additionally the newest to supply a blunt criticism of the PGA Tour’s decision-makers.
There’s a Dec. 31 deadline for the tour to finalize a take care of the Public Funding Fund. The framework settlement that additionally contains the DP World Tour was introduced in June, to the shock of the tour’s members who weren’t concerned within the closed-door discussions.
The secrecy of these talks generated important anger from many gamers.
“The administration has not carried out a great job. They virtually see the gamers as labor, and never as a part of the members. In spite of everything, we’re the PGA Tour. With out the gamers, there’s nothing,” he mentioned. “While you then get to see what occurs behind closed doorways, how the administration really makes choices, which aren’t within the gamers’ finest curiosity, however finest for themselves and what they assume is finest.
“They aren’t skilled golfers in any case. They’re businessmen who say that ‘No, it ought to appear like this and that.’ There may be quite a lot of vanity behind all of it.”
Tiger Woods has since joined the coverage board and is closely concerned within the ongoing discussions because the tour seeks funding for a brand new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises. ESPN reported that greater than $3 billion can be injected by Strategic Sports activities Group, a consortium of billionaire U.S. sports activities crew homeowners, into the brand new entity.
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