Viktor Hovland has confirmed he won’t be shifting to LIV Golf however has criticised PGA Tour management for gamers as ‘labour’; after weeks of hypothesis, Jon Rahm confirmed that he had signed for LIV Golf in a deal understood to be value as much as £450m
Final Up to date: 18/12/23 6:52pm
Viktor Hovland is the most recent participant to criticise the PGA Tour management
Viktor Hovland stated he fully understands why Jon Rahm signed with LIV Golf, however the world’s No 4-ranked participant would not plan to be the subsequent marquee participant to bolt to the Saudi-backed league.
In an look on the “Fore” podcast in Norway, Hovland stated he doubts he would bolt for LIV, principally as a result of league’s no-cut format.
Nonetheless, he acknowledged the big sum of cash Rahm signed for, reported to be greater than £450m together with contract and signing bonuses, whereas taking intention on the “vanity” of the PGA Tour’s management.
“It might be a bit too foolish to criticise the gamers for leaving. In spite of everything, you solely hear one angle within the media, and there are fairly a couple of completely different elements occurring on the similar time right here,” Hovland stated in Norwegian as translated by Eurosport Norway, per Golfweek.
“I completely perceive why he left. That is loads, some huge cash.”
Butch Harmon believes Jon Rahm’s departure may enhance the urgency of the PGA Tour to type their Framework Settlement with LIV Golf
Hovland’s star standing has taken off in a 2023 throughout which he received the FedExCup title in August and the £14.2m ($18m) bonus that got here with it.
He additionally received the Memorial, the second leg of the playoffs on the BMW Championship and tied for second at each the PGA Championship and the DP World Championship.
It has been an immensely rewarding 12 months for Hovland on the course, however his earnings could be dwarfed by a possible provide from LIV. The 26-year-old asserted that the format nonetheless doesn’t attraction to him.
“I do not assume their product is that nice. I am not such a fan of, for instance, enjoying with out a reduce,” Hovland stated. “You want the competitors with 150 gamers and a reduce. In case you do not play properly sufficient, you are out.
“There’s something about it that makes your sport a little bit sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I do not assume I’d have develop into a greater golfer. After which it’s, in a manner, finish of debate.”
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Hovland has dedicated to the season-opening The Sentry in Maui, which is a no-cut occasion, together with the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, the WM Phoenix Open and the Genesis Invitational.
Rahm had equally robust objections to LIV’s format earlier than he signed with the league. He has been suspended from the PGA Tour, stopping the Spaniard from enjoying in The Sentry forward of LIV’s first occasion of 2024.
May Hovland take the same path as Rahm within the close to future?
“No, I doubt that,” he stated.
Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland set a Ryder Cup document as they thrashed Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka with a 9&7 win on day two
Hovland was additionally the most recent to supply a blunt criticism of the PGA Tour’s decision-makers.
There’s a December 31 deadline for the tour to finalise a cope with the Public Funding Fund. The framework settlement that additionally contains the DP World Tour was introduced in June, to the shock of the tour’s membership that was not concerned within the closed-door discussions.
The secrecy of these talks generated important anger from many gamers.
Viktor Hovland was in impressed type in his singles match towards Collin Morikawa, profitable 4&3 as Europe edged nearer to regaining the Ryder Cup in Rome
“The administration has not performed a great job. They nearly see the gamers as labour, and never as a part of the membership. In spite of everything, we’re the PGA Tour. With out the gamers, there’s nothing,” he stated.
“Whenever you then get to see what occurs behind closed doorways, how the administration really makes selections, which aren’t within the gamers’ greatest curiosity, however greatest for themselves and what they assume is greatest.
“They aren’t skilled golfers in spite of everything. They’re businessmen who say that, ‘No, it ought to appear like this and that.’ There may be a substantial amount of vanity behind all of it.”
Tiger Woods has since joined the coverage board and is closely concerned within the ongoing discussions because the tour seeks funding for a brand new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises. ESPN reported that greater than £2.37bn ($3bn) could be injected by Strategic Sports activities Group into the brand new entity.
