19th Hole
Gary Player defends LIV players saying ‘they need the money’
“A lot of people are giving a lot of opinions, and know a hell of a lot about nothing!”
So says nine-time major champion Gary Player in an interview with Sky Sports News last week, in which he refers to the spat between the traditional tours and the new, rebel LIV golf series as something that “saddens me is to see the fighting that is going on and it’s unnecessary.”
Speaking about the decisions of the 48 players that signed for the first LIV event that finished on Saturday, Player was quite clear with his thoughts.
“But remember this, the players who are playing there now, they need the money. They’ve got families and I don’t blame them for playing there. There’s not a lot of them who can win on the regular tour anymore, so they are wisely taking the money.”
“There is a place in the sun for both tours. I just hope they settle everything in an amicable way and we go from strength to strength because golf is a passport to the world.”
On the day that Patrick Reed signed up to the rebel tour, Sky Sports News asked Player whether he felt the majors would accommodate those that have opted for the Saudi-backed series. His response was that, “I don’t know what the majors are going to do”, although we now know that the USGA has allowed all qualified players – LIV bound or otherwise – to take part in this week’s US Open at Brookline.
Admitting that the PGA Tour has the best players in the world, he defended the right to choose, saying, “If they so desire to play the LIV tour which is their choice and their freedom…..freedom is on the wane around the world, so they still have their freedom to choose and we should be grateful for that.”
“But…you can’t have both tours, you can’t do that, it’s not going to be allowed according to the rules, as far as I know.”
The 86-year old winner of the 1965 US Open considered there may be lawsuits – “I don’t know” – and concedes that, “you can’t have your cake and eat it.”
“I’d like the people that are playing this tour just to be open and say, ‘Look, I’m playing here because I want to make some money, I have a family’. There’s no disgrace in that. But you can’t have your cake and eat it.”
“Every businessman has a choice to say that….look, I’m leaving because I’m making more money…and don’t forget, the best players will always come from the US tour because that’s where all the international top players are playing.”
Speaking from St. Andrews, home of the 150th Open Championship in July, the three-time Masters champion was asked if he felt players would reconsider their options, should all the major championship organisations refuse to allow them in.
“No, once you’ve made the decision, that’s final, as far as I’m concerned. But remember this, the LIV tour does not have a points system that will enable you to keep playing the tours, so I don’t know what’s going to happen in the majors. If you’re not playing the majors, or the regular tour, where are you going to get your points to give you, and qualify you, to play the majors?”
“This is far more complicated than people make it out to be. A lot of people are giving a lot of opinions and know a hell of a lot about nothing.”
A known associate of Saudi Golf, Player was then asked if he had any reservations about the regime before becoming involved with them.
He responded, “Who are we to criticise people for human rights?” He continued, “If you look at what’s happening around the free world — killing policemen, killing people, burning cities down, shooting children, stabbing people. Are we really in a position to criticise people around the world?”
“People in glass houses mustn’t throw stones. We live in a world where everything is either lawsuits, quick to criticize, people on phones having nothing better than to do, media that manufacture stories.”
“We live in a very strange world today, it’s a very different world.”
"A lot of people are giving a lot of opinions, and know a hell of a lot about nothing!"
9-time major champion Gary Player gives his views on the ongoing dispute over the LIV Series pic.twitter.com/sM6idkAXXQ
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 11, 2022
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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