It should have been all about Tiger and Jack in St. Andrews. Neither will hoist the Claret Jug again — Jack’s too old, Tiger’s too broken — and this 150th British Open wound up being, more than anything else, about the most dire existential threat the golf establishment has ever faced.
The establishment fought back a bit Wednesday.
Martin Slumbers, the very Britishly named CEO of The R&A, said the British Open could alter its parameters for inclusion in the oldest major championship, “whether it’s an exemption or a need to qualify through our qualifying process.”
In other words, the 23 LIV golfers who began their Open on Thursday might have a harder time making the field in the very near future. This could well threaten the inclusion of some of the biggest names in the game.
This could mean excluding top finishers in other international qualifying events and players exempt from past wins or top finishes. Since LIV golfers earn no Official World Golf Rankings points at LIV events, their current ban from PGA Tour events could whittle away at their rankings, which also can qualify players for majors.
The future of LIV players at the four majors remains uncertain. This year’s U.S. Open welcomed qualifiers and indicated it would continue to do so. The PGA Championship happened a month before LIV Golf held its first event. The Masters has been mum.
It might all soon be irrelevant if the government decides the PGA Tour isn’t playing fair. The tour on Monday confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division is investigating the tour’s behavior regarding LIV Golf.
This week, LIV-affiliated golfers make up almost 15% of the 156-man Open field, and their existence overshadowed what should have been a celebration of golf’s far distant, less distant, and more recent past.
The greats?
Tiger Woods called it “the most historic one we’ve ever had,” and, in a lot of ways, it is.
Jack Nicklaus made one last trip to St. Andrews to join America’s original diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, and America’s original international superstar, Bobby Jones, as honorary citizens of the town of St. Andrews, where he won two of his three Opens.
Woods, with an eloquent address Tuesday concerning himself, the game, and its status, effectively replaced Nicklaus as the unofficial international spokesman for all things relating to golf. For the past six decades, they have been the essence of golf, as sure as the heart of the game has resided at the Old Course for the past 60 decades.
But there was always the stench of LIV Golf, and its ruthless Saudi Arabian roots, and its shameless sportswashing effort underway, fueled by a $2 billion kitty that bought the souls of stars like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, and, of course, feckless Phil Mickelson.
If the repellent nature of their overlords has contaminated the tournament, the golfers’ actual presence has been minimized.
Once the loudest voices in the sport, none of the biggest LIV names — past champions Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen and major winners Johnson, Koepka, Reed, and DeChambeau — was featured during the week’s pre-tournament press conferences.
Once marquee draws, none was part of anything resembling a prominent threesome as play began Thursday.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was not invited to the Champions Dinner. Oosthuizen was, and he went, but Mickelson, still ashamed of his comments that laid bare his motive for joining LIV — a reported $200 million, despite disgust with the Saudis — did not attend.
Maybe The R&A figures the LIV golfers won’t matter, anyway. Only four of the 17 LIV-associated players at the U.S. Open made the cut. None finished better than 24th, which is where DJ settled, at 4-over par.
The golf?
The sidelights have obscured what is a compelling list of other storylines.
Rory McIlroy, the world’s most popular active golfer, is the betting favorite, and Jordan Spieth, America’s most popular golfer, is among the top five favorites, and both have regained top form in the past calendar year. Current world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was ranked 24th in October, has won four times this season and will try to become the ninth golfer to win the Masters and British in the same year.
Xander Schauffele has won twice in his last two starts, Patrick Cantlay has three top-five finishes in his last six tournaments, and Cam Smith, the most beautifully mulleted Australian in history, is a hot-cold player who’s heating up.
None is as compelling as DeChambeau, who thinks he can drive six of the 14 par-4 greens. But injury and inactivity have conspired to drive DeChambeau from relevance since the calendar turned, and, as Woods said, playing LIV Golf isn’t exactly iron sharpening iron:
“What is the incentive to practice?” Woods said. “What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?”
Will any of LIV-ers contend? With bonuses in their bank accounts, and with significant guaranteed money for every tournament, and with 54-hole formats, on inferior courses, against laughable competition, are any of them being prepared to play the sort of golf required to win a major championship?
We’ll know better come Sunday.
