Thomas Bjorn appears to be very much in favor of golf broadening its horizons and forming a truly worldwide tour, with the Dane inadvertently quoting John Lennon's most well-known song while making his point on social media this week.
Lennon - a member of iconic English pop group, The Beatles - is synonymous with the song 'Imagine', a word that also popped up during Bjorn's monologue when calling for a "unified, global game."
Since talks between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and Saudi Arabian PIF - led by Yassir Al-Rumayyan - were believed to have progressed sufficiently around Christmas, mild optimism has begun to break out among the golfing establishment, leading to potential plans as to how Golf 2.0 might look.
Rory McIlroy has been one of the leading campaigners to take golf into all four corners of the world, making his case in a recent interview with podcast 'Stick To Football.' Before the Dubai Desert Classic, he reiterated his global-tour hopes and suggested India as a one of the possible destinations.
He was later joined by the Champion Golfer Of The Year, Brian Harman, who also saw the merits of taking golf on the road and away from its predominant home in America. Harman said: "I think there's some golf-starved areas of the world, and I was just thinking about how cool it is, this game, how we can use it as like an avenue to go see places that you wouldn't otherwise get to see.”
Before the same event, the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council chairman Adam Scott was another to speak in favor of the proposal. He said: “The way the professional game has been shaped over the last 20 years, it's been very important to be playing in America. You know, but I think a better balance can be achieved going forward."
Meanwhile, outgoing DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said: "I think the growth of the game is global. That's where the focus needs to be."
The pyramid of golf has many layers…The professional game is the shining light at the top of the pyramid.Imagine if that was a unified, global game where the best played against the best on the greatest courses in the greatest tournaments.It’s really not that difficult…January 17, 2024
And while former DP World Tour board member and Team Europe captain Paul McGinley warned there would be "huge financial and logistical challenges" in launching such a thing as a world tour, one of the Irishman's Ryder Cup successors was daring to dream for a moment.
Bjorn - who captained Europe to success in the 2018 running of golf's most famous team competition - likened the sport to a pyramid and said the very top could easily be something special.
The fan of English Premier League club Liverpool - the same city from which Lennon hailed - said via his X account: "The pyramid of golf has many layers… The professional game is the shining light at the top of the pyramid. Imagine if that was a unified, global game where the best played against the best on the greatest courses in the greatest tournaments. It’s really not that difficult…"
Imagine all the people, calling for a global game... Thomas Bjorn can.
