As the PGA Tour wraps up its postseason while uncertainty surrounding the future of LIV Golf rages on, the game is once again grappling with a highly debated issue: Should star players who left the PGA Tour be welcomed back, and if so, in what capacity?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a question that Jim Nantz, the voice of golf for the better part of the last three decades, has clearly spent time thinking about \u2014 as it pertains to both the CBS broadcast he anchors and the values of the sport of golf as a whole. That is why Nantz \u2014 who was joined by his CBS colleagues Dottie Pepper and Trevor Immelman \u2014 had a candid observation when asked about the dilemma on a Zoom call with The Athletic on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game is thriving without them,\u201d he said, noting that last week\u2019s FedEx St. Jude Championship had its best broadcast viewership showing since 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cI, like everyone else, am anxious to see how they can sort this out, and how you can make everybody happy, because there are a lot of PGA Tour players who resisted the urge to go take their game somewhere else and cash in on a bounty or a largesse,\u201d Nantz said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re going to have a strong opinion on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nantz continued to share that, in all of the sports he has covered in his career, he has never experienced another game so dependent on integrity. He believes that trait cannot be forgotten during this inflection point.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Jon Rahm) left with absolutely all the consequences out there, for the public to know, for him to know, for his team to know,\u201d Nantz said. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna risk it all, you can\u2019t come back, and you\u2019ve gotta make a decision \u2026 Golf is a game that, at its core, leans more on its rules and the consequences than any other game. And I\u2019ve covered a lot of them. I\u2019ve never seen a sport that leans so heavily into what a handshake means, what a contract means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pepper echoed the sentiment, adding that not one personality or player can overpower that aspect of the sport. And actions, no matter who you are, have consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way Brooks (Koepka) came back, was with humility and \u2018I\u2019m gonna earn it.\u2019 The way Patrick Reed\u2019s going to come back? He will have earned it. But to come back with an attitude that I\u2019m bigger than all of it? Nobody\u2019s bigger than that,\u201d Pepper said.<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler starts FedEx Cup playoffs with a win<\/p>\n
The LIV players will be feeling the fallout of their decisions, as the breakaway league enters its final event of the season in Indianapolis and its members still lack pertinent information about how it will exist beyond this summer. A possible bankruptcy filing<\/a> in the U.S. looms, and players may soon see their long-term contracts canceled if they don\u2019t accept equity in the tour instead. LIV\u2019s lead investor, BC Partners, has yet to sign a finalized agreement to inject funds into the league to carry it forward.<\/p>\n