Opinion: PGA Tour needs to embrace LIV Golf, have young golfers act like Mickelson, Trevino
One of the many reasons the PGA Tour is bleeding viewers was offered up at the 6th hole of the Masters on Thursday. Harris English hit an incredible tee shot on the tough par 3. So incredible that it just missed being a hole in one by about one-fourth of an inch. English did not even so much as offer up a smile to the crowd.
To that unforced error, one of the commentators for the Masters online telecast implored: “Come on, Harris. Smile.”
English is no doubt a very good person, but in that one instance he demonstrated a trend turning off both loyal and occasional golf fans. That being that many of these players now seem to be robotic and aren’t inclined to give anything or very little back to the fans who ultimately afford them their living. Several years ago, I watched as one of these players birdied seven of nine holes and never once cracked a smile or acknowledged the crowd. He gave off the vibe that he was in the middle of a root canal rather than setting the golf course on fire.
Many of these PGA Tour players now look the same; swing the same; dress the same; act the same; go through the same sports academies; have the same coaches; the same sports psychologists; and seemingly, the same “it’s all about me” attitudes. Note to these guys: a smile, a laugh and regular interaction with the fans goes a long way.
Over the last three decades, Phil Mickelson has given a Master Class on giving back to the fans. As his time on the golf stage winds down, maybe some of these cookie-cutter, indistinguishable from the next, seemingly self-absorbed younger golfers may want to take a lesson from that golf legend. As Arnold Palmer demonstrated for years, personality and individuality does matter.
Speaking of Mickelson, we come to reason number two why the PGA Tour is losing viewers. Their foolish, ill-advised, and not remotely thought through war on LIV Golf. It was the PGA Tour – and some enablers in the media – who ultimately were driving a wedge between the fans and the game.
From day one, myself and others were imploring the PGA Tour to embrace LIV Golf precisely for the good of the fans. But not only did they fail to do that but again, some of their mean-spirited enablers went out of their way to smear Mickelson, Greg Norman, and LIV golf. Premeditated, highly personal attacks that both offended and turned off countless golf fans.
Competition matters to fans. Seeing the best against the best matters to fans. Class matters to fans.
Suddenly, you have someone like Scottie Scheffler winning the Players Championship - often referred to as the "5th Major" by professional golfers – last year but with many fans wondering if there should be an asterisk next to his victory. To be sure, Scheffler is a phenom. That said, he won the “5th Major” against a dramatically weaker field.
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A field that did not include Mickelson, Brooks Koepka; Cam Smith (the defending champion at the time); Bryson DeChambeau; Dustin Johnson; Marc Leishman; Joaquin Niemann; Patrick Reed; Harold Varner III; Jason Kokrak; Thomas Pieters; Sergio Garcia - and a number of other topflight players.
This did not go unnoticed by the fans then and it is not going unnoticed by the fans now. I am a longtime supporter of the PGA Tour. That acknowledged, even I have tuned out its product of late.
PGA Tour's war vs. LIV for all the wrong reasons
The PGA Tour’s undeclared war against LIV Golf was not about acting in the best interest of the fans. It was about wrongheadedly trying to protect its brand and their jobs to the detriment of the game and its fans.
That also did not go unnoticed by the fans.
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If the PGA Tour wants to stop the bleeding, bring the fans back and increase their footprint, the organization needs to do two things immediately.
First, embrace LIV Golf and figure out a way to bring those exceptional players back into the fold. The PGA Tour and the Saudi-sponsored LIV have been negotiating for 10 months.
Second, ask Mickelson and Lee Trevino to teach their often petulant looking, robotic young golfers to smile, laugh, sign autographs and give back to the game.
Back in the glory days of NASA, the warning was: “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” For the PGA Tour, it should be: “No smiles and unification, no fans.”
The PGA Tour and its players have the power within them to turn this all around.
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book: The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Masters: PGA Tour should embrace LIV Golf, use Mickelson, Trevino as models
