SHANE LOWRY hit out at what he called the ’embarrassing amounts of money’ in golf.
The Offaly-native pocketed over €1 million from winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last weekend.
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It was his first win since The Open in 2019, from which he earned almost €2 million.
Money in golf has been the topic of conversation in recent times due to the emergence of the mega-rich LIV Golf Tour.
Backed by Saudi Arabia, the breakaway league has seen players such as Cameron Smith sign contracts worth upwards of €83 million.
It is a point of consternation for Lowry, who has been a vocal critic of LIV and the players involved.
Speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, the 35-year-old said that golf ‘is not the NFL or NBA’ and that the levels of money are ’embarrassing’.
He said: “This thing of golfers feeling like they’re worth 100 million dollar contracts, like we’re not the NFL at the end of the day. We’re not the NBA.
“In my opinion, we are a smaller sport than those, and we do need to be careful. I hate at the minute, how divisive golf is.
“And I think if we divide our top players could be in trouble. I’m not worried about anything else other than the sport in general.
“I just think it’s disgusting the amounts of money that we are talking about in terms of winning tournaments.
“The general Joe soap, a guy who works his nuts off to pay 50 grand a year and has a struggle maybe even to pay his membership at his golf club.
“This is probably p****ng him off more than anyone.”
SAUDI STATE OF AFFAIRS
While he has been critical of the LIV Tour and its impact on golf’s finances, Lowry has not been as stingy when it comes to where that money has come from.
Lowry admitted that he was not in a strong position to object to the Saudi funds as he played in the Saudi International three years running.
The Clara man defended his position at the time by saying he’s ‘not a politician’, but now reflects that he misjudged that approach.
He said: “When I said the ‘I’m not a politician’ remark, my first thought was ‘why did I say that?’ It was the wrong thing to say. The thing is I played the Saudi International for the last three years.
“So, for me, I would have been very hypocritical if I sat here and said ‘it’s about where the money is coming from’.
“Will I go back and play the Saudi International next year? No. But I just think the LIV tour is bad for the game because it is very divisive.”