It was there for all to see at Augusta National this past week.
Surely, officials from the PGA Championship, the next major championship on the calendar, saw it. Same for the governing bodies of the U.S. Open and British Open.
Hopefully, the PGA Tour and DP European Tour took notice.
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The riveting theater the 87th Masters provided was thanks to a field consisting of the best players in the world together on the same course in the same tournament regardless of what tour on which they play.
It was a blast, and it left everyone wanting for more.
The Masters transcended the current bickering between the PGA Tour and its match-play threat, LIV Golf.
Take away any of the competitors at the top of the leaderboard at Augusta National this week — most notably winner Jon Rahm, runners-up Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and defending champion Scottie Scheffler — and what you would’ve had was a major championship that short-changed the fans of golf the best product.
Can’t they all get just along?
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This is as close to the common desire among golf fans as there is in today’s sad and fractured current state of the game.
Make no mistake: This battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is much more a boardroom battle than one between players in the locker rooms and the golf course.
“It is fractured, I guess, from the fan’s perspective,” Koepka said of the sport. “But as far as us (players), I think everybody saw it this week: It’s nice to see everybody. There’s no hard feelings pretty much. I think that’s the way everybody should see it.”
Credit the Masters for handling the baton first and leading the way for the four major championships and not following the PGA Tour with its ban of LIV players. The PGA, U.S. Open and British open are all allowing LIV players, because they want the best, most competitive and compelling fields for the biggest tournaments on the sport.
A major championship would be disingenuous calling itself a “major’’ if it wasn’t going to allow the likes of Koepka, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson and Mickelson into its field because they play on the LIV Tour.
All four major championships are businesses unto themselves and they know it’s not good for business if they’re not delivering the kind of drama this past week’s Masters did.
That’s what we all want.
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“I thought it was exciting that this tournament rose above it all to have the best players in the world here and lost all the pettiness,” Mickelson said after shooting his final-round 65 on Sunday. “This tournament isn’t about what tour you play from. There are players from all over the world on many different tours, and you’re bringing the best players to play against each other in the majors. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what the game of golf should be.”
The question is how long will the LIV players be allowed to play in the majors?
Golf’s governing bodies are clearly, in slow-play mode, playing a long game of attrition with LIV.
The PGA Tour and the powers who run the major championships are reducing the ways in which LIV players can get into majors, mostly through what appears to be overt collusion with regard to the World Rankings, which is the most common pathway for players to qualify into the majors.
Players from LIV are not receiving World Ranking points, a matter that’s supposedly under review by the Official World Golf Ranking board, which happens to consist of the PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, commissioner of the DP World Tour Keith Pelley, Masters chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief Martin Slumbers.
If that’s not a conflict of interest then you can call an 800 number for Augusta National and book a Saturday morning foursome for you and your buddies for 35 bucks a head, including lunch.
There were 18 LIV players in the Masters field last week. That number likely be reduced to about half of that next year because a lot of the players will no longer be able to qualify via world ranking points.
Mickelson was one of six LIV players who played the Masters as a past champion with a lifetime exemption. The Masters also gives a five-year exemption to winners of the other three majors. That’s how Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau got into this Masters, and they’ll still have eligibility next year.
Of the six players who qualified through being in the top 50 in the world, only three of them — Joaquin Niemann (No. 25), Abraham Ancer (31st) and Thomas Pieters (44th) — were there at the start of Masters week. By next year, they’ll likely drop out of the top 50 as Harold Varner III (60th), Jason Kokrak (86th) and Kevin Na (96th) already have.
The only way for LIV players to gain World Ranking points right now is through the four majors, because none is run by the PGA Tour.
Here’s hoping these entities eventually find a way to peacefully co-exist, because it’s best for the game when all of the top players compete against each other. This past Masters was all the evidence of that you need to back that up.
