Hopefully, you relished the magic that unfolded Sunday at St. Andrews.
It was equal parts thrilling and pure, unadulterated joy while it lasted.
Because the drama that played out on the Old Course on Sunday — as well as last month’s U.S. Open at Brookline, May’s PGA Championship and April’s Masters — with Cam Smith lapping the rest of the contenders with a virtuoso final-round 64 (which included a 30 on the back nine) to overtake Rory McIlroy and win the Claret Jug is likely to be the last truly scintillating golf you’re going to see for a while.
Until further notice (read: whenever — if ever — the PGA Tour lifts the current suspensions of the players who’ve signed on with LIV Golf), last week was the last time you’re going to see the world’s best players compete against each other.
The thought of that is rather depressing as we come down from the euphoria of this British Open.
The sport of professional men’s golf has been fractured as a result of the Greg Norman-led, Saudi-backed tour and the subsequent defensive response by the PGA Tour to ban the players involved.
The Ryder Cup may also be affected (infected?) by the LIV movement with the news that European captain Henrik Stenson is reportedly about to defect to the rival tour. A number of Europe’s most decorated Ryder Cup players are members of LIV and presumably not welcome anymore, beginning with Sergio Garcia, who’s the all-time points leader for Europe.
The Ryder Cup is the most popular event in golf globally. It draws more eyeballs to the sport than any tournament. Players and captains being banned from that is damaging to the game.
None of the 2022 major championships followed the PGA Tour’s tack by suspending the LIV Golf players, who happen to include some of the world’s best. But there clearly appears to be a movement in place on the part of the governing bodies of the Masters, R&A, USGA and PGA of America to make it difficult for the LIV players to qualify for the majors.
Right now, LIV not having access to any World Ranking points, which are a primary criteria for players to qualify for majors, is a bullet in the holsters of the PGA Tour and everyone else who’s conspiring to rid itself of LIV.
This, of course, would appear to be collusion, though all of the governing bodies of the majors have been very careful not to be so overt in their respective alignment with the PGA Tour.
The bottom line at the moment is this: Whether you like it or not, LIV Golf, which has gained quite a bit of momentum in recent months with so many top players joining it and with rumors of many more to follow, is not going away anytime soon. It has too much money behind it. Money neither the PGA Tour nor anyone else in the game can compete with.
The PGA Tour, which has been on the back foot since LIV formed because its commissioner Jay Monahan didn’t take the rival tour seriously enough, suspending the players involved is not doing the sport any favors.
If the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka (to name a few) are then banned from playing in the major championships, how is that good for the sport when the majors now don’t have the best players competing against each other?
It’s not.
This is not an endorsement of LIV Golf, which has become a disruptor to the sport. Norman insisted back in the fall that LIV doesn’t want to compete with the PGA Tour, but wants to work with it. If you believe that, then you believe Tiger Woods is on the verge of winning the Grand Slam in 2023 despite his fused back and mechanical right leg.
It’s simply reality. LIV is here and, for the good of the sport, compromises must be made on both sides so there can be some sort of coexistence.
Unless that takes place, we might lose those magical major-championship final-round vibe that the PGA, U.S. Open and, most recently, the British Open treated us to.
You’re naïve if you don’t think Cam Smith has been contacted by LIV and is possibly mulling a move to eventually play on that tour. His asking price certainly went up on Sunday. Rumors of Smith making the move have been circulating for weeks.
After his win, Smith was asked about it and had every opportunity to shoot it down, but he didn’t. As Xander Schauffele, who also left the door ajar for joining LIV, told The Post last month, “Everyone has their price.’’
More players — perhaps beginning with 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama soon — are going to sign on with LIV.
It’s time all the powers that be in golf come together and figure out how to coexist for the good of the sport, not their bank accounts.