{"id":631209,"date":"2026-05-08T16:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631209\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:27:13","slug":"go-back-to-minor-tours-gary-player-sends-harsh-message-to-jon-rahm-and-co-amid-liv-golf-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631209\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Go Back to Minor Tours’: Gary Player Sends Harsh Message to Jon Rahm and Co. Amid LIV Golf Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jon Rahm<\/a> is certainly not happy with what\u2019s going on at LIV Golf. And while he may be committed to playing through the season, he has stated looking for a way out. But where does that way lead for the Spaniard? Gary Player believes that, despite his status in the sport, Rahm shouldn\u2019t be allowed to return to the PGA Tour without any repercussions.<\/p>\n

Player joined the <\/a>Vanity Index Podcast<\/a>to say, \u201cTom Watson had a point at Augusta this year. He says if they want to come back, they have made all this money. They can\u2019t just walk back onto the Tour now. It\u2019s not fair to the players that are playing now, and they should go to one of the minor Tours and have to pre-qualify to get on the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, and Player were the honorary starters of the 2026 Masters Tournament. After they teed off, they sat down for a press conference to discuss the current climate of golf. That\u2019s when Watson discussed the situation of LIV Golf pros possibly coming back.<\/p>\n

He told the reporters<\/a>, \u201cI thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life. If I was commissioner, that\u2019s what I would do. I\u2019d say if you\u2019re finished with your contract with LIV Golf, if you want to play the PGA TOUR again, you come back, and you must play the Korn Ferry Tour for a year to qualify for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the legend, LIV Golf pros shouldn\u2019t find it easy to return to the Tour immediately. Especially when they were quick to deflect and betray the Tour when they got the opportunity to earn more money. Watson believed that every player should be forced to earn their PGA Tour membership again through the Korn Ferry Tour. tt\u2019s worth mentioning that his comments were targeted at Brooks Koepka<\/a> and Patrick Reed<\/a> back then. And he also explained why the players need to be punished.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you win a tournament today, you\u2019re not the world champion anymore. When Arnold (Palmer)<\/a>, Jack (Nicklaus)<\/a>, (Lee) Trevino, and (Tom) Watson, these guys with Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, when they won a tournament, they were the world champions because you didn\u2019t have two Tours. Now you win a Tour, you\u2019re half a champion. Here you have got two Tours separated from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

When LIV Golf was created, golf was split into two distinct Tours. That created a lot of debate over the best rosters and best players. While the likes of Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau<\/a>, and Cameron Smith won majors during their time away, they caused a lot of imbalance in the sport. And to regain that balance won\u2019t be easy. Even if Player wants them to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould I like to see them together? Yes, if I was the owner of the world of golf, I don\u2019t know how you do it when they have been paid. Now they want to come back, and now the guys say, \u2018Well, look, they had all their money, now they want to come back to our Tour.\u2019 They want the cake and eat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allowing the LIV Golf players a straight pathway for return will cause chaos within the existing PGA Tour roster. Not everyone will welcome those who left willingly and criticized others for staying back. There were already a few voices that spoke against Koepka\u2019s reinstatement.<\/p>\n

In fact, Wyndham Clark also held the same opinion as Player, as he told the reporters<\/a>, \u201cI personally really like Brooks, and I think it\u2019s ultimately really good for the PGA Tour, but also, it\u2019s kind of frustrating that he\u2019s able to get the cake and also eat it, so I\u2019m very torn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Masters<\/p>\n

Masters Tournament \u2013 practice round Jon Rahm of Spain reacts on the seventh hole during a practice round for the 2026 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, USA, 06 April 2026. The Masters golf tournament begins 09 April 2026. AUGUSTA GEORGIA United States PUBLICATIONxINxGERxAUTxINDxONLY Copyright: xERIKxS.xLESSERx<\/p>\n

This shows how the mindset of the current PGA Tour talent works. But the LIV Golf players\u2019 actions are not helping them earn any favors as well.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Bryson DeChambeau proved why Gary Player wants the players to be punished<\/p>\n

Despite the sinking ship of LIV Golf after PIF\u2019s announcement, the players are not done being greedy about the opportunities they receive. One of them is Bryson DeChambeau, who hasn\u2019t shied away from publicly stating his views on the subject.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like DeChambeau and his camp haven\u2019t tried to find common ground with the PGA Tour executives. However, things didn\u2019t pan out the way they expected them to. The PGA Tour officials didn\u2019t bend to their will, and that left DeChambeau frustrated.<\/p>\n

In a statement, DeChambeau told the media<\/a>, \u201cSo, if I were to film a video during the week of one of their events with a content creator or somebody, a celebrity or whatnot, that would be in violation, and, from my knowledge, they didn\u2019t let me do it when I was on there. I asked numerous times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

He wanted to integrate more of his content creation portfolio into his PGA Tour pursuit. But the Tour\u2019s executives denied him permission to do so. Considering that Grant Horvat & Co. also faced the same challenges, it\u2019s understandable. In fact, Horvat also declined an invitation<\/a> from an official PGA Tour event because he couldn\u2019t film it with his crew. Maybe their focus on content creation instead of professional golf events is what is putting Brian Rolapp & Co. off.<\/p>\n

Such complex situations might all be off-putting for legends like Gary Player & Co. So it\u2019s understandable if they are not in favor of such stars returning to the PGA Tour immediately.<\/p>\n

The post ‘Go Back to Minor Tours’: Gary Player Sends Harsh Message to Jon Rahm and Co. Amid LIV Golf Uncertainty<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Trending Articles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Rahm is certainly not happy with what\u2019s going on at LIV Golf. And while he may be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[272887,22413,18939,15547,31747,427,25760,13755,45269,10658,65256,3332,99,16339],"class_list":["post-631209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-2026-masters-tournament","tag-augusta-national-golf-club","tag-brooks-koepka","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-gary-player","tag-golf","tag-jack-nicklaus","tag-jon-rahm","tag-korn-ferry-tour","tag-liv-golf","tag-masters-golf-tournament","tag-pga-tour","tag-sports","tag-tom-watson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}