Jack Nicklaus says he doesn’t blame LIV Golf players for accepting huge sums of money and he reveals Tiger Woods future plans.
Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus says LIV Golf are “trying to buy respectability” as he revealed Tiger Woods will be playing PGA Tour Champions in three years’ time and is likely to use a golf cart.
Nicklaus, now 83 years old, joined Sir Nick Faldo’s new podcast Round Table Chats to discuss a number of topics.
Chief of which was the career of Woods and of course the breakaway tour spearheaded Faldo’s old on-course foe Greg Norman.
Nicklaus made it clear that he had absolutely no issue with players joining LIV.
He told the podcast:
“I don’t fault the guys who have gone to LIV.
“You have to make a choice, between playing golf for a short period time, for a lot of money, to put away for your family, or do you have the loyalty to play regular golf, then the senior tour and into retirement.
“It’s a quick hit and that’s their call, and I don’t fault that.
“But I don’t think it’s been good for the game of golf, the PGA Tour was forced to react and I don’t like the way we’ve automatically created a secondary tour within the main tour, we’ve created a second layer.”
Nicklaus previously revealed he turned down in excess of $100m to occupy the same role Norman has with LIV.
The Golden Bear revealed he did met with LIV chiefs “out of courtesy” because of his golf course design work with Saudi Arabia.
But insisted that he had to remain loyal to the PGA Tour. Nicklaus refused to elaborate on the topic at last year’s Memorial.
Norman later described Nicklaus as a ‘hypocrite’ for these comments.
The Australian claimed Nicklaus offered different thoughts in private about LIV, saying: “If it’s good for the game of golf it’s good by me”.
Nicklaus continued to Faldo:
“But times change though, so you go with the times. The future of LIV will depend on how these legal cases are handled.
“It’s money trying to buy the game, it’s trying to buy respectability, and I don’t think that’s what it’s all about.
“Somebody said they’re trying to buy the ability to sit on the veranda at Augusta National sipping Mint Julep with the membership and be accepted.
“It’s trying to gain acceptability within the mainframe of the game of golf.”
“When I get to the senior tour I will”
Nicklaus also revealed Tiger Woods has plans to play PGA Tour Champions and is likely to use a golf cart.
Woods returned to action for the first time since the 2022 Open at the Genesis Invitational.
The 47-year-old finished T-45 at Riviera Country Club after sparking controversy with his tampon prank on Justin Thomas.
Nicklaus said:
“He’s going to play the majors, he can actually still hit the ball pretty well, he just can’t walk.
“I told him, I said ‘Tiger you’re eligible to take a cart’, but he said ‘I’m not going to do that, when I get to the senior tour I will.
“He’d love to play the senior tour. That’s what I love about Tiger, he’s a competitor, he loves competition.”
The comments from Nicklaus will be warmly received by Woods fans. He has previously stated he has no plans to be a ceremonial golfer.
But it looks like he will want to be competitive beyond his 50th birthday.
Article originally appeared on: Golfmagic.com
RE: LIV golf-This is just like the AFL before the merger. In time they will either merge or accept each other. What I like about LIV golf- I know most of the players. I like the format-teams over 3 days with a shotgun start. They finally got a TV contract. And they can wear shorts!
Wake up America and enjoy a few changes to the game!
The money behind Liv comes from the same people who were responsible for what happened on 911 and they continue to treat their women as possessions or at least less than equal to men. I can not believe any American can endorse them.