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The professional golf world got crazy last night when the names of the players who will be competing in the LIV Golf Series’ first event that will be taking place next week in London were finally released.
The biggest name of the 42 players on the list (there are still six open spots that will likely be filled, possibly be even Phil Mickelson) was Dustin Johnson, who has 24 wins on the PGA Tour, including two major championships.
He’s also the guy who said a few months ago that he was very happy with life on the PGA Tour and that he wouldn’t be swayed by any new competing tours.
Seriously, this is what he said in February:
“Over the past several months, there has been a great deal of speculation about an alternative tour; much of which seems to have included me and my future in professional golf. I feel it is now time to put such speculation to rest. I am fully committed to the PGA Tour. I am grateful for the opportunity to play the best tour in the world and for all it has provided me and my family.”
This was his agent’s statement last night:
“Dustin has been contemplating the opportunity off-and-on for the past couple of years. Ultimately, he decided it was in his and his family’s best interest to pursue. Dustin has never had any issue with the PGA TOUR and is grateful for all it has given him, but in the end, felt this was too compelling to pass up.”
LOL.
So here’s what we know – DJ is probably being paid BOATLOADS of money from the Saudis to play in this new golf league and he’s totally cool with taking the money from a government that has done horrible things to lots of people.
Here’s what we don’t know – what the PGA Tour will do to DJ and the other players who are set to play in the LIV event next week and others in the future. The Tour has said in the past that it will issue big punishments on anyone who makes the jump but now that things are getting real will the Tour still step up and try to ban players from playing on the PGA Tour? Would that even stand up in court?
Then there’s the issue with the four major championships. The PGA Tour doesn’t have any power over those so if guys can still do enough to qualify for those, will the powers behind the majors allow them to play? The U.S. Open is being held a week after the first LIV event, so we’ll get on juicy answer pretty soon.
There will still be a ton of questions left to be answered in the coming days and weeks. Right now it’s all pretty crazy to think about and it really feels like the PGA Tour is in a gigantic bind as it tries to figure out how to keep other players from making the jump in the future.
Oh, here’s another thing I know about all of this – DJ won’t be missed if he never plays in a PGA Tour event again. While he’s been a dominant player over the years, he’s never been a thrilling one to watch, even if he does hit the ball a million miles. He barely ever shows any emotions on the course (except when he cried after winning the Masters, which was cool to see) and he never has diehard golf fans thinking, “I gotta tune in today to see what DJ does!”
The dude barely pumps his fist when he wins a tournament! It’s hard to feel any type of connection to him when he seems so indifferent to what happens in a tournament.
DJ is a great player, yes. He’s a Hall of Famer, of course. And and has done a lot of incredible things on Tour over the years, for sure.
But at 37 years of age, DJ is clearly comfortable with taking a gigantic paycheck and playing out his last days as a professional golfer in a league that will feature other old dudes – with a mix of forgettable younger guys -who won’t be exciting to watch. They’ll all collect their bundles of money from a government that has done horrible things to lots of people and they won’t lose any sleep over it.
Which says a lot about who they are as people.
Quick hits: Ump’s terrible call… Ump tried to confront Diamondbacks pitcher… Jeter’s funny first tweet… And more.
– The home plate umpire in yesterday’s Twins-Tigers game made the worst call of the MLB season so far, which is saying a lot considering how bad the umps have been this year.
– Speaking of bad umps, what was this ump thinking during the Cubs-Diamondbacks game the other night?
– Derek Jeter joined Twitter yesterday and his first tweet was very good.
– Tommy Pham called Mike Trout “the worst commissioner in fantasy sports” in the latest development in the best baseball story of the year.
