Even casual golf fans might wonder what is left for parody after Charley Hoffman castigated the PGA Tour for being insufficiently protective of its players, a particularly audacious claim from a journeyman who continues to reap a handsome living despite having registered zero wins and just four top 10 finishes in the last 500 days.
In an ill-tempered Instagram post on Friday evening, Hoffman railed against a ruling he received in the second round of the WM Phoenix Open. And like Phil Mickelson at last week’s Saudi International, he presented his personal grievance as an inflection point for the entire Tour. He whined about amateur rules-makers running the professional game, insisted the most coddled athletes in sport are not “protected,” said it’s no surprise players are considering bolting to a Saudi-financed splinter league, and demanded commissioner Jay Monahan do better—all while tagging a handful of media outlets and the Saudis.
Wittingly or not, Hoffman was acting as a crash-test dummy for his huckster neighbor in San Diego, Phil Mickelson, who has repeatedly peddled similar talking points favored by the Saudis in their attempt to hijack men’s professional golf. Like a general paying tribute to cannon fodder, Mickelson was among the first to comment favorably on Hoffman’s infantile screed.
