LT Saturday Guarello’s column: Calm down

It makes no sense to question Joaquín Niemann’s decision to go to LIV Golf. Everyone, to the extent of their possibilities, has control of their own life and chooses what and where they will be happiest. Cameron Smith, winner of the Players Championship and the British Open this year, was uncomplicated when explaining his move to the multimillion-dollar Saudi league: “Money and time with my family.” One could argue, and rightly so, that Joacking, as he is known in the United States, was on his way to becoming a PGA Tour legend, that whatever LIV offered him in cash, he was going to win in the long run. regular circuit but in a much more transcendent and glorious way. That, unlike Phil Mickelson, plagued by gambling debts and aged over fifty, and Sergio Garcia, at dusk, he did not need to hurry: his talent and professionalism were bound to be rewarded.

But these are only speculations. No one has bought their future and in top sport, details can ruin a career. In golf it’s even more complex, one failed swing and it’s over. It’s happened to Ian Baker-Finch, David Duval and even the legendary Severiano Ballesteros.

So, instead of interviewing the best Chilean golfer of all time, let’s try to understand the subject more broadly. As a quiet, federated golf fan and amateur player, I see the Saudis, rather than creating a parallel league to compete with the PGA, trying to take over the scene and, by default, force the Americans to negotiate. With the only argument they understand in the United States, money, they came in hitting sticks left and right and not only took a significant number of great players but also started to organize championships on the enemy territory. The PGA watched LIV enter the outfield. A war of hundreds of millions of dollars where figures like Donald Trump saw the opportunity and aligned themselves “patriotically” with the Saudis by renting fields from them. Only in America. In short, a great dogfight where the players are mere spectators. In visible heads: Tiger Woods for the PGA and Greg Norman for the LIV.

Now, what’s the underlying problem with LIV: that it’s by invitation. In other words, until the rules say otherwise, these are friendly tournaments with excessive prize money. The grace of high level sport, for me, is that it always asks. Let every player know, as is the case on the ATP Tour for example, that there are ten thousand hungry dogs out there who want your place and work day and night to get you out. The compulsion to play well to pass the cut-off of the weekend, to add points to keep the card, the pressure of the ascendants of the Korn Ferry Tour, make the PGA a more demanding circuit, which allows neither distractions nor relaxation. . Anyone who doesn’t play well, even if they are a star and have won major tournaments, disappears from the map. I have already mentioned the case of David Duval, from world number one to nothing.

In the LIV, they pay you a fixed amount even if you play badly. You can make 85 shots on Friday and on Sunday you will be the same on the court. You don’t have to score points, there are no candidates to enter with athletic parameters, only the will of the sheikhs. It takes away a lot of allure and tension. There’s cash per truck and player perks, who can deny that, but as a sports spectacle it’s still very weak and bland. Fewer holes are played and more relaxed. There is no suspense or morbidity. Logically there will be modifications to make it more demanding and competitive, it is mandatory. The current tasteless form does not resist much. Ultimately, the PGA and LIV are going to have to sit down and negotiate. For the good of both and of golf.