Big-hitting Bubba Watson has applauded the involvement of US President Donald Trump in peace talks between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour and thinks Trump’s considerable clout will help finalise a deal.
But the dual US Masters winner’s motivations are different to most LIV golfers, who are hoping to return to PGA tournaments in America and be on a level playing field when it comes to the majors.
Dual US Masters champion Bubba Watson competing at Augusta in 2023.Credit: AP
Watson wants the feud to end so he can play the annual PNC tournament in Ohio alongside his son Caleb.
“My dream has always been to play with my son there. Maybe it will let me play with my son in the PNC,” Watson said.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Australian golfer Adam Scott met with Trump last week to discuss unification with LIV Golf and whether he could accelerate their negotiations with LIV’s major backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Sports Business Journal also reported that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s fund, was also included in the meeting on a call.
The PGA powerbrokers want the best golfers competing against each other again in America and hope Trump – an avid golfer and owner of golf courses where LIV tournaments have been played – can bring the parties closer.
Talks aimed at finding a resolution have dragged out due to concerns from the US Department of Justice about competition laws and what PGA star Rory McIlroy described as the biggest impediment: “the differing visions of what golf should look like in the future”.
Watson, who is in Adelaide to compete in LIV’s showcase tournament at The Grange this weekend, says the details of how the rival groups will move forward remains an open question, but he is heartened by Trump’s involvement and the gradual, albeit tentative, thawing of relations.
“It’s a good move and people are starting to come around,” Watson said. “They see we are not there to hurt anybody. We are there to grow the game and we are doing it globally, so it is a great thing any time we can shake hands and hug it out.”
There are signs of progress. The British Open agreed on Monday that the “the leading player not already exempt in the top five of the 2025 individual season standings following the completion of LIV Golf Dallas will be awarded a place in the 153rd Open”. It also released a list of the 12 LIV Golf players already exempt, who will play in the major at Royal Portrush.
Fans use a tree to gain a viewing advantage above the gallery on the 18th hole in 2024.Credit: AP
The decision lends legitimacy to LIV Golf and comes on the back of a similar decision by US Open organisers last week. Watson believes the major tournaments have no choice but to acknowledge LIV, given the quality of players on the 54-man roster.
“If you are not letting LIV players in, you are really not having the best field,” Watson said. “For those majors to be successful and keep growing they need the best players and obviously LIV have some really good golfers that aren’t in the majors, so I think [the decision] is a step in the right direction.”
A new television deal with Fox Sports to broadcast LIV Golf (LIV Adelaide is broadcast in Australia on Channel Seven) also increases the tournaments’ visibility and therefore profile after three years of relative absence from television screens.
But LIV Golf advocates want the disruption to bring about change with more team events, night golf and the best playing against each other outside and inside America.
Adelaide has embraced LIV Golf and all of its elements, which include loud music, party holes and for the RangeGoats captain, the sight of goats at the sixth hole this week. Those goats are part of Watson’s partnership with Convoy of Hope, under which the team donates goats to villages and people in need throughout the season.
Watson’s outlook meant his peers respected his decision to join LIV Golf. The pushback was confined to those opposed to LIV Golf and the Saudi government’s involvement in funding the breakaway group. “I never had pushback from players, the PGA Tour players know my heart and what I focus on and what I want to do in life,” Watson said.
Watson was a regular visitor to Australia in the glory days, his main memory losing a play-off to Robert Allenby in the 2005 Australian Masters – which made Allenby the first player to win Australia’s Triple Crown in one season.
“Not that I am still mad about it,” Watson joked, as he recalled the putt that lipped out to give Allenby victory.
He hasn’t been mad about much lately, except his game, which has been below par in the past two seasons. His spot in LIV Golf was uncertain at the end of last year when he finished 48th and was in what LIV calls “the drop zone”.
Adam Scott, who handed the US Masters green jacket to Bubba Watson in 2014, has turned sporting diplomat.Credit: Getty Images
The big hitting left-hander wanted to continue and was reassured at the support he received to stay the course. “Nobody has told me to hang it up,” Watson said.
He showed in Riyadh last week – when he shot -11 under lights to finish 12th and was the fifth-longest driver – that he still had the game to compete: “I am old, but I can still move it. I can still beat these young kids.”
Watson is lining up with a spring back in his step as the golf establishment and LIV keep discussing what a future alongside each other looks like. The 46-year-old knows Adelaide is the place to showcase the concept as close to 100,000 deprived Australian golf fans flock to watch many of the world’s best golfers up close – and have fun while doing it.
“This [tournament] is what we want LIV to look like around the world, and we want people to follow, and we want people to embrace it,” Watson said. “A movie script could not write that story of last year how the Rippers won. This is the model.”
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