Ever since the announcement of the PGA Tour’s merger with the Saudi Public Investment Fund behind LIV Golf, there has been speculation as to how the two circuits could coexist in the future.
That's doubtless also one of the topics of discussion as the two parties work to thrash out an agreement, with a deadline set for the end of the year. However, while we await news on the outcome of those talks, one LIV Golf player with a suggestion as to how the PGA Tour could integrate with the new circuit is Bryson DeChambeau.
The Crushers GC captain was a guest on The Rick Shiels Golf Show, the popular podcast hosted by the top 50 golf coach, and admitted the game can’t remain fractured – an opinion he’d stressed to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
He said: “I think the game eventually needs to come back together and I’ve said it from day one when I went over and there’s numerous times where I talked to Jay about it too, I was like, 'This all has to work out in the end for the good of the game, this can’t just be for the PGA Tour or for LIV. The fans have got to win here’.”
Currently, LIV Golf tournaments feature an individual competition played simultaneously with a team aspect, and that’s something DeChambeau thinks could be adapted to work with the PGA Tour, with its signature events holding the key.
He explained: “What I could see is LIV integrating into the signature series on the PGA Tour in some capacity and having two championships in one, where you have the individual component in the signature series, and you have the team side of it.
“So you have the teams you’re playing for, so no matter what on that final day, that guy that’s playing really bad still matters, it’s still a big deal on the team championship aspect of the tournament. And then you guys have the individual side that’s still competing for that individual title the way it is currently."
DeChambeau is also convinced it would improve the product, despite some doubters. “I don’t see that as being a problem, I see it as being an additive rather than a negative,” he said. “I know a lot of people don’t see that point of view but I think that’s a really solid solution to this whole problem."
The 2020 US Open champion also explained why LIV Golf players need to have the kind of exposure integrating with the PGA Tour would bring. He said: “We don’t want to be in the fall, we want to be mainstream, we believe we should be mainstream, we have some of the best golfers in the world that should be highlighted at these events.
"That would be my blue sky scenario where we integrate, we figure out how to make it all mutually be beneficial and we play for the legacy that’s there with a new idea and concept on top.”
'We've Got To Provide For The Fans'
DeChambeau was one of several LIV golfers who missed out on this year’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, but he also suggested the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could come together in a contest similar to the biennial match.
He said: “How amazing would it be like a Ryder Cup-style sort of thing but LIV vs PGA Tour? Imagine the hysteria. We’re all in for it, 100,000% for nothing by the way, we just want to do it. It’s about the fans at this point now, we’ve got to provide for the fans, we have to. I’m all in for it.”
Listen to the full episode with Bryson DeChambeau on The Rick Shiels Golf Show.
