Sweeping changes that the PGA Tour announced this week are “a copy” of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf series, the former world No 1 Lee Westwood said.
On Wednesday, the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, announced the tour’s top golfers had committed to competing against each other more regularly. The changes require top golfers, assuming they qualify, to play at least a 20-event schedule consisting of the four majors, the Players Championship, 12 “elevated events” with average purses of $20m (£16.8m) and at least three other PGA Tour events of the player’s choosing.
Monahan said the changes were inspired by the PGA Tour members and singled out those who held a players-only meeting last week to discuss a number of proposals in the face of the LIV Golf threat.
“I laugh at what the PGA Tour players have come up with,” Westwood, who was suspended from the PGA Tour after playing in LIV’s inaugural event in London, told Golf Digest.
“It’s just a copy of what LIV is doing. There are a lot of hypocrites out there. They all say LIV is ‘not competitive’. They all point at the no-cut aspect of LIV and the short fields. Now, funnily enough, they are proposing 20 events that look a lot like LIV … and hopefully, they will be held to account as we were in the early days.”
The PGA Tour and Europe’s DP World Tour have put up a united front in their stand against LIV and in June announced a strengthening of their alliance to combat the threat. However, Westwood added he was not convinced by the strategic alliance, saying the PGA Tour’s prize purses had lured golfers away from Europe in the past.
“All the PGA Tour has done since Tiger [Woods] came on tour is up the prize purses,” Westwood said. “In turn, that has taken all the best players from Europe away from the European Tour. They’ve had to play in the States, taking all their world ranking points with them.”
Meanwhile, in the PGA’s season-ending Tour Championship, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick finished the first round six shots off world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s lead of 15 under at East Lake, Atlanta. The British player, who won his first major at the 2022 US Open, started on three under and shot an impressive six-under-par 64 to finish the day in third place. Rory McIlroy dropped four shots in his first two holes but bounced back to finish the day on seven under.
Scheffler took advantage of his 10-under start which was awarded for his accumulated points on the PGA Tour, and was at the top of the standings when the first round kicked off on Thursday. Players start the Georgia event with their shot advantages determined by their place in the FedEx Cup standings.
McIlroy started the day on four under and, after immediately giving up his advantage, got back on track thanks to five birdies in his final seven holes. The Open champion, Cameron Smith, playing for the first time since the opening FedEx Cup playoffs event due to a hip injury, still managed a 67 and joined McIlroy at eight shots back.