‘Qualifier for LIV’: Can the Paul Azinger Dystopia Soon Become a PGA Tour Reality?

Paul Azinger has left the booth, but controversies haven’t left him. In a freewheeling conversation with Golf Week’s Adam Schupak, Azinger said the PGA Tour has become a sort of feeder Tour for LIV Golf. “The best players aren’t all playing PGA Tour tournaments. That’s over. Suddenly, the LIV Tour—let’s just say it like this: the PGA Tour has fast become the qualifier for LIV, and it’s a sad day for golf.”

And that, of course, has led to majors becoming the only opportunity to watch the best go against the best. Only four times a year. Comparing the situation to tennis, the 1993 PGA Championship winner rang an alarm bell. Like his previous take on the European Tour, this has also sparked a fresh controversy. Is Azinger right in his claim? What does the situation spell for the future?

Is the PGA Tour on the backfoot?

When Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, or even Talor Gooch joined the Saudi-funded side, very few were concerned. They were not seen as pathbreakers but rather as players who turned their backs on the PGA Tour. It didn’t take long to dub LIV Golf as an easygoing Tour for the stars of yesteryear. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, though, started hunting for younger golfers.

In came Joaquin Niemann, one of the hottest prospects on the PGA Tour. David Puig, a ninth-ranked amateur golfer at the time, joined the breakaway league as well. Major winners like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith crossed the frontier. With Jon Rahm’s signing last December, the reality soon became more apparent.

Now, there are concerns about the PGA Tour’s product and its quality. Top Pros are rarely willing to play outside the Signature events. It has been the case since LIV’s inception and the Tour’s announcement of elevated events. This was Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: “Obviously, I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties.”

Tellingly, Honda left as a sponsor because there was no surety that players who draw the eyeballs would tee up at their event. Wells Fargo and Farmers Insurance will follow suit for similar reasons. Sure, Chris Kirk, Matthieu Pavon, and Jake Knapp make for a great storyline. But that comes only after the event is over. 

Josh Carpenter of the Sports Business Journal tweeted that after the American Express, the Tour hasn’t seen year-on-year growth in Sunday viewership. How the sponsors will view this in the long run remains an open question. The numbers also dwindled at the Genesis Invitational after Tiger Woods withdrew. 

Most importantly, there is no reason to believe that players won’t jump ship after the merger agreement. LIV Golf, PGA Tour, and DP World Tour will exist under the umbrella of PGA Tour Enterprises. But as it appears, the Tour and LIV will continue to be two separate leagues.

Can Jay Monahan stop the exodus?

You only need to take a look at the DP World Tour for a reality check. The higher purses of the PGA Tour and the pathways created for the top ten players on the Race to Dubai rankings have drawn more European golfers to the Stateside. The result is a watered-down field at most European Tour events. 

Read More: Jay Monahan’s ‘Mishandling’ of LIV Golf Merger Left PGA Tour Insiders Shocked and Frustrated, Reveals Paul Azinger

Sampson Zheng, 21 in WAGR, was one of the few amateurs to tee up at the LIV Golf Promotions event last December. The reason? “Everybody that I’ve talked to, some are a little more hesitant to be straight up and say LIV has done a good thing just because of how the media portrays them. In terms of giving players an opportunity, they’ve done a really wonderful job,” Zheng told Golfweek. 

Adding further, Zheng said, “I think if you really look at the details of, like, what they’ve done for the younger guys, like, for example, this week, the entry fee was $25 to play. And if you finish top three or top 10, you get some type of status on some tour. Whereas if you play the Korn Ferry qualifying and you play all four stages, you’re burning through $20,000.” Should the Tour be worried about losing young talents to LIV Golf?

Read More: ‘Mentally Exhausting’: Jay Monahan Hit With a Harsh Reality Check From 4x PGA Tour Winner

The moment is not here yet. But there are signs of a deeper problem that is somehow getting brushed under the rug. As for Azinger’s comments, it’s still an exaggeration at this moment. The PGA Tour hasn’t become a feeder for LIV yet. Sure, Jon Rahm’s left to join the Saudi side, and yet another PGA Tour prodigy from a decade ago returned via LIV Golf, but the PGA Tour hasn’t become a full-fledged feeder for them yet. But if this pattern continues, that can soon become a reality!