MIAMI – Justin Thomas knows every golf tournament cannot be the equivalent of the American football’s Pro Bowl (All-Star Game). But he could not help but notice the continued absence of some of the best players in his sport when he hit the course at the Players Championship this week.
Even an ordinary National Football League (NFL) game has all the top stars competing against one another, he suggested.
“Not every NFL game is a Pro Bowl, but it essentially it is, right?” the American asked rhetorically on March 13.
“Because it’s all the best in their specific sport... there’s nothing better than Sundays when you can just sit on the couch and you get to watch some freak athletes go play football and hit each other all day.
“I mean, that’s kind of the main thing I feel like is beneficial to fans and is beneficial to us (players).”
Thomas, 30, said, as he thinks back to the past, how beneficial it was to him as a younger player to have a friendly rivalry with Jordan Spieth to push him.
“Jordan and I fed off each other in 2017, 2018... and we kind of pushed each other a little bit. I know internally I don’t want him to beat me, and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way,” he said.
“So I think getting all the best players in the world together more often is just going to create a more and more competitive nature and which I guess would result in a better product.”
Alienating fans became a talking point in recent weeks not just because of the product, but largely due to the progress of a potential merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
As it is, the best players from LIV – the likes of Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, among others – are not competing at the PGA Tour’s Players Championship.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said on March 12 that the tour’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – LIV Golf’s backers – are accelerating.
But Rory McIlroy believes fans are already growing weary of the prolonged discussions.
“I want the train to speed up so we can get this thing over and done with,” the four-time Major champion said. “That’s why I said, the sooner that this is resolved, I think it’s going to be better for the game and better for everyone – the fans and the players.”
There have been reports a deal could be finalised before the start of the season’s first Major, the US Masters in April, but several key issues still need to be worked through.
These include an investigation by the United States Justice Department to determine if the deal would violate antitrust law, and the tricky issue of players who signed on with LIV returning to the PGA Tour.
“If I were a fan, I would want to watch the best players compete against each other week in, week out,” McIlroy added, echoing Thomas’ words.
“If you just unified the game and brought us all back together in some way, that would be great for the fans.” REUTERS, AFP
