Welcome to another installment of SI Golf "Fact or Fiction," where we're starting to get a hankering for pimento cheese sandwiches.
If you're new here, we post a series of topical statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be "Neutral" since there's a lot of gray area in golf.
Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.
LIV Golf rescinded its Official World Golf Ranking application, ending a long effort to try to get points for its tournaments and players. This was the right decision.
FICTION. Somehow, someway, both sides should have tried to work this out. OWGR has acknowledged it’s a problem that players such as Dustin Johnson are not properly ranked. So spell out what needs to happen, get in a room and figure out a solution. Because there is no guarantee the majors will offer direct exemptions.—Bob Harig
FICTION. I understand LIV's frustration, but I think they may have better served to continue to work with OWGR behind the scenes to find a compromise and continue to unify the sport.—Jeff Ritter
Charles Laberge/LIV Golf
FACT. The deck was stacked against them from the start, seeking approval from a cartel of golf stakeholders with no interest in acknowledging the rebel circuit. LIV Golf is better off not begging anymore and instead letting time fix the problem, and PGA Tour players calling for ranking changes is a start.—John Schwarb
NEUTRAL. Not sure if I can say this is the right or wrong decision. It makes sense, because we all know the OWGR wasn't going to budge any time soon, and LIV doesn't appear to be in the market for format changes—and that seems to be the only way forward. I will say this development is not a great sign for the prospect of the two tours “coming back together” at some point. The OWGR situation is a mess.—Gabby Herzig
FACT. Absolutely. How long do you wait for the OWGR to do the right thing? Clearly, they had no intention of recognizing LIV, so it’s time for LIV to move on and hope at some point the majors recognize the need for an alternate system.—Alex Miceli
Anthony Kim returned from a 12-year hiatus last week at LIV Golf's event in Saudi Arabia, where he did not give any pre-tournament interviews or comment except on LIV-managed channels. The golf world deserved more around such a big story.
FACT. This will probably happen in time, but Kim’s story—or the mystery of it—has fascinated golf fans for years. How much has he played? When did he decide to come back? Those answers might help frame why he appeared a long way from being competitive.—B.H.
FACT. I get that AK would want a low-key return, but the golf world has been waiting for this for a long time. It sounds like we'll hear more from AK soon, but I always imagined his return would be a buzzier deal than it turned out to be.—J.R.
FACT. Can you imagine another league having a player come back after years away and not allowing him to talk to anyone? Yes, we'll find out the Kim backstory in a few weeks when LIV Golf comes back to the U.S., but the news cycle was starving last week and everyone only got crumbs.—J.S.
FACT. Kim drew eyeballs in his first LIV appearance but could have garnered even more attention if the league had helped share his personal journey ahead of the tournament. I assume we will hear from AK in-depth in the weeks to come. Maybe the league wanted to ease him back into professional golf by starting at a remote event, but I don't think interest will persist unless he gives us some more background on his hiatus.—G.H.
FACT. This was the biggest story of the week and while AK doesn’t want to talk, LIV officials should have required him to do just that. Just like any other player, Kim needs to be asked and answer questions from the media, period.—A.M.
The PGA Tour's second “legacy” signature event of the season is this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, with a field of 69 players. That's about the right number for these exclusive tournaments.
FICTION. At a time when the PGA Tour is being criticized for these events, why not allow more players into them? The original intent was to cap them at 80. So why not at least go to 78 players, which works well for an event with no cut. Giving spots to a few more only make the system better.—B.H.
FICTION. Give me 85 players, with top 50 advancing to the weekend.—J.R.
FICTION. I think the right number is varying numbers. Some events could have 80 players, others 50. What's the harm in mixing it up? I feel like we've been Aon Swing Fived to death so far this year as the Tour has been so careful to provide pathways to signatures for those not previously qualified, but let's be honest about who these events are really for.—J.S.
FACT. The key word here is “about” ... why not even it out to 70 players at least? There were a few interesting tweets floating around from pros on the bubble, like this one from Andrew Novak and this reply from Adam Schenk. A 69-player field? Make it make sense.—G.H.
