Rory McIlroy might be ready to welcome LIV golfers back onto the PGA Tour, but another star disagrees.
Justin Thomas, who finished in a tie for sixth at last week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am, said he’s OK with LIV competitors eventually returning but said they shouldn’t come back without paying some sort of price for their defections.
“I would say that there’s a handful of players on LIV that would make the Tour a better place, but I’m definitely not in the agreement that they should just be able to come back that easily,” Thomas said Tuesday, two days before the WM Phoenix Open begins at the TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.
“I think there’s a lot of us that made sacrifices and were very — whether it’s true to our word or what we believe in or just didn’t make that decision, and I totally understand that things are changing and things are getting better, but it just would — I would have a hard time with it, and I think a lot of guys would have a hard time with it, and I’m sure we don’t need to convince you why we would have a hard time with it.”
The remarks from Thomas and other top stars — like Rickie Fowler — come in the wake of the announcement that the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) would initially invest $1.5 billion in the PGA Tour, with the potential of another $1.5 billion being injected in the future.
SSG is made up of a group that includes sports owners like Steve Cohen (Mets), Tom Werner and John Henry (Red Sox), Mark Attanasio (Brewers), Arthur Blank (Falcons), Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics), Tom Ricketts (Cubs) and others.
McIlroy, who in the past was one of the strongest anti-LIV voices when he was a member of the PGA Tour policy board, said last week it’s time for LIV golfers to be welcomed back to the PGA Tour when, or if, a framework agreement is reached between the two sides because it would be the best for the game.
“I don’t think there should be a punishment,” McIlroy said. “Obviously, I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties.
“It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. That’s my opinion of it. So to me, the faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible, I think, is great for golf.”
Last week, Fowler and Jordan Spieth said they did not agree with McIlroy’s take regarding LIV golfers coming back to the Tour with no punishment.
But both said they wouldn’t be opposed to them returning to play in PGA Tour events in the future if an agreement is reached.
“As far as decisions to go elsewhere and just welcome back, I don’t think it’s a direct road,” FowIer said. “They made decisions — there has to be something for it. Whether how small or big, that’s not up to me. I feel like I’ve been saying it will be interesting to see how the next few months or year or two years go, and we’re still in that spot.”
Spieth also said after the deal with SSG deal was agreed to that it isn’t a must for the PGA Tour to reach an agreement with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns LIV Golf.
“I don’t think it’s needed,” Spieth said. “The idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right now without anything else, with the option of other investors.”
Thomas said Tuesday he’s not “not necessarily super adamant one way or the other” when it comes to whether the Tour and PIF can reach a deal.
“I want the best product and the best players,” Thomas said.