Senior Tour star debates joining LIV pros: ‘They’re going to be hits’
With the future of LIV Golf in doubt, the league’s stars have begun looking for other places to play high-quality golf. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil’s inability to confirm the entire season will happen on Tuesday hastened that process.
Much of the focus is on whether LIV’s biggest stars, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, can try to return to the DP World and PGA Tours.
But there is another great set of LIV pros in a very different situation: aging stars.
Will the old stars of LIV Golf play on the PGA Tour Champions?
When LIV started in 2022, the league was eager to get big-name players, even if they were past their playing days. Those same players, seeing the decline in fortunes in their careers, were eager to get the huge sums of money that the PIF-backed LIV was offering them.
Many of those who took the deal were European Ryder Cup stars, major champions or both, and household names among golf fans, such as Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia, to name a few.
Old American stars, such as Phil Mickelson and Pat Perez, abandoned the PGA Tour of LIV again.
If LIV folds next year, or in the coming weeks, those older players may not have the game to play on the DP World or PGA Tours, even if they are allowed to try.
However, there is one tour designed specifically for the over-50 crowd: The PGA Tour Champions.
The problems with LIV players joining that tour, however, can be found at the beginning of its name. It is owned and operated by the PGA Tour, and PGA Tour penalties and restrictions for LIV players extend to the main circuit.
Steve Stricker on LIV pros playing PGA Tour Champions: ‘I’d love to be with those people’
One of the current stars of the PGA Tour Champions is Steve Stricker. Despite never winning a major, Stricker captured 12 PGA Tour titles in his career and captained the US Ryder Cup’s most victorious team in 2021.
Now 59, Stricker plays on the PGA Tour Champions, where he has won 18 times, including seven majors. He also hosts the PGA Tour Champions’ American Family Insurance Championship in Wisconsin.
Given his participation in the PGA Tour Champions and his high personal reputation, Stricker’s opinion on whether LIV professionals should be allowed on the high circuit matters.
Last week, Stricker offered his thoughts on the matter in an interview with the team’s Jim Owczarski Milwaukee Journal Sentineland revealed that he had a fight.
First, Stricker acknowledged that adding older LIV stars will improve the PGA Tour Champions, saying that certain players “are going to be hits here on the Champions Tour.”
“There’s two ways of looking at it, aren’t there? Of course, having guys in their 50s now, or close to it, like Lee Westwood, [Ian] Poulter, Pat Perez, other guys [Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson]will be hits here on the Champions Tour. This trip could use that,” said Stricker.
But at the same time, Stricker argued that “they should go,” so, it’s not as simple as just inviting them if they want to come.
“And I look on the other side of it, they’re gone,” Stricker said Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And I think each case will be treated differently from what I understand. I really don’t know.
He went on to say that as the manager of the American Family Insurance Championship, he would “like to have” the stars of LIV play because “it will only help our event.” But at the same time, he admitted that there are “almost consequences” if they want to return.
“I’m looking at it both ways and I’m not sure which way is right, I mean, if I’m the tournament director I’d like to have these guys and we’re in this business right here. [with the AmFam Championship]. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Poulter and Westwood and Pat Perez and the other guys there, too. It can only help our party, you know?” Stricker said. “But I also know there might be consequences for them if they want to come back.”
Of the current and former LIV players that Stricker mentioned, only two have started the path to PGA Tour Champions: Perez and Stenson.
Now 50 years old, Perez has plans to play on the Champions Tour. In January, the PGA Tour confirmed that Perez was reinstated as a member of the Tour. However, he would not be allowed to play in events this season as he has been suspended.
The Tour declined to disclose any other consequences Perez was facing at the time, such as fines, he said Sports Illustrated“The PGA Tour does not comment on disciplinary matters.” But Perez is still eligible to play in Senior Tour majors not run by the PGA Tour, including the 2026 Senior PGA Championship, which he played in April.
Stenson also played in the Senior PGA Championship this spring, and said his suspension will end in August, after which he will play in the PGA Tour Champions.
