Legendary golf coach and Sky Sports pundit Butch Harmon believes LIV Golf may never have been formed if the PGA Tour had introduced its elevated changes sooner. Since its inception last summer, LIV has sent shockwaves across the world of professional golf.
The Saudi-backed series has faced plenty of criticism, and its biggest opposer has come in the form of golf's leading circuit the PGA Tour. Since rumours of a new league began over two years ago, the PGA Tour were quick to play down the idea.
And despite the fact LIV is now well up and running - and a real thorn in the side of the American-based circuit - the stance of Jay Monahan and co is no different.
The battle began within the very first few minutes of LIV's existence, after the Tour issued suspensions to any player competing in the rival league as soon as the opening tee shots were hit. And this stance has continued, leaving the likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith exiled from golf's leading circuit.
Despite the strong stance, the emergence of LIV no doubt caught the powers of the PGA Tour somewhat of guard, after a whole host of huge names signed on the mega-money dotted line. In response the Tour themselves stretched their pockets, and implemented a number of financial changes to keep those who remained on side.
One man who thinks this shake-up came too little too late though is Harmon. The former swing coach of the great Tiger Woods told Mirror Sport : "I will say this, I think if the PGA Tour had done what they have three years ago, there might not even have been a LIV.
" This didn’t happen, and it took another league for them to take another look at it."
Those who have chosen to make the Saudi switch have faced plenty of backlash from the powers that be, fans and even some of their fellow players.
Harmon though is a lot more understanding. " I don’t blame any of the guys for going over there," he added. "And I don’t blame any of the guys for playing on the PGA Tour."
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One of the Tour's biggest changes came just last month, after Monahan confirmed a group of new elevated events, that will included limited fields, no cut lines and increased prize pots - a model not too dissimilar to that of their LIV rivals.
The changes were met with some criticism, with some labelling the soon to be introduced alterations somewhat hypocritical due to the Tour's slamming of the LIV setup. Harmon though believes in the long run this new and similar schedule will see a fall in those making the breakaway move.
He commented: " I think now with how the PGA Tour is structured with the elevated events, the hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money, I don’t think you will see a lot of guys go to LIV now."
Amid the ongoing civil war within the sport, it seems there is a call for peace this week with players from both sides reuniting at Augusta National for The Masters.
The saga has been arguably the ugliest period in professional golf history, and one man who is hoping the magic of The Masters can fix this is Harmon. Asked if he felt relationships were beginning to mend ahead of this week's trip to Augusta he replied: "I certainly hope so. I think there is a place for both tours.
"I didn’t like all the verbal pillow fighting that was going on between the players on both tours. I think if you decided to play on LIV, you knew what the ramifications were of your decision. Go ahead and enjoy your time with LIV. I think if you are on the PGA Tour, you are where you want to be, it is the best tour in the world, there is no doubt about that."
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