The body language is telling, the words — if anything — even more so. In the weeks and months since LIV Golf morphed from speculation into being, the divisions between those still believing in old-school golfing values and legacy issues with those who jumped ship to pocket the filthy lucre have widened to the point that the civil war is being played out in public view.
It has come to a head at the BMW PGA Championship, where no fewer than 15 of those LIV defectors have wandered into the clubhouse — where walls are lined with putters and irons and drivers of past winners, clubs donated by Seve and Arnie and Nick to forever remember their places in golfing history — and into the European Tour’s flagship championship with a swagger and sense of entitlement that has ruffled feathers.
Lowry made the point that the two were still very much friends and that there had been no falling out
That the tone of the remainers has hardened is evidenced on many fronts. Shane Lowry for one. In the light and joy of the JP McManus pro-am in Adare Manor back in July, Lee Westwood made an impromptu appearance as Lowry was speaking and there was joviality and laughter as Lowry made the point that the two were still very much friends and that there had been no falling out.
That Lowry-Westwood friendship may still be tight, if not airlocked, but in more recent days the 2019 British Open champion has not been shy about coming forward in outlining how he wished many other defectors had stayed away from Wentworth and accusing them of being “disruptive”.
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As probably the least confrontational player to be found in a locker room, wherever it may be, that Lowry would utter the words, on the record, that “there are certain guys I just can’t stand them being here, to be honest. I don’t like it that they are here” demonstrates how things have hardened since LIV’s lift-off and how the drip-drip to the start-up series turned to a steady flow, if not quite yet a haemorrhaging, as real money actually changed hands.
“My opinion is they shouldn’t be here [at Wentworth] but again that’s just my opinion,” said Rory McIlroy of those LIV players making room in their schedules for Wentworth, well aware that his opinion, as a generational player and a PGA Tour board member, carries more weight than perhaps anyone’s.
Even since the 150th Open at St Andrews in mid-July, the last time that LIV players mixed with the great and the good of the traditionalists, those public interactions between players have grown more pronounced and ever more bitter.
The confrontation, or interaction if you will, between Billy Horschel and Ian Poulter on the putting green at Wentworth pre-tournament also showed how those cast on either side are not for backing down. The refusals too of some players to shake hands or even offer a wave of greeting to those now in opposing camps has offered a further example of the hardening of lines and polarising attitudes.
Like it or lump it, within a matter of months, LIV has made a quick imprint on the golfing landscape. An earthquake, which has fractured men’s professional golf from the traditionalists’ view; a new beginning, for those making the leap. Which is it?
The original perception that Norman, the Great White Shark, had bitten off more than he could chew has proven to be false
There is no black and white, no clear lines on this one. No simple right or wrong, even if one side would appear to have the moral authority in the face of flagrant sports washing with Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund bankrolling the LIV ideology of Greg Norman. Such financial washing in other sports (eg Formula One, soccer) has shown that money talks and time moves on. Eventually, the same with golf?
The original perception that Norman, the Great White Shark, had bitten off more than he could chew has proven to be false.
Few other than Norman could have imagined things would move as fast as they have done, which perhaps explains the inaction of the power bases in Sawgrass and Wentworth to head things off sooner rather than later, but Norman’s success is why old friendships have cooled and harder lines have come to the fore of late.
There never was ever going to be a sense of live and let live for those moving to LIV, and especially for those also wishing to have their cake and eat it by using legal injunctions to play both LIV and European Tour; but the displays of human emotions and strong language of recent days, from players and tour hierarchy, indicates a harder line from rank and file European Tour members who believe they are in the right and those walking away have wronged them.
