Smith caught up in 'delusional' $140m stand-off

1 year ago 98

For years the PGA Tour has boasted that its flagship event, The Players Championship, attracts the champion tract successful golf.

Tour commissioners, from Deane Beamen to Tim Finchem to Jay Monahan, person routinely argued that the tourney should beryllium regarded arsenic the sport's 5th major.

Any proposition of the tourney taking connected specified presumption goes retired the model this week erstwhile the tract arrives astatine TPC Sawgrass.

Not lone is the defending champion, Australia's Cameron Smith, banned, but truthful are the players who finished 2nd and 3rd successful 2022, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey.

The reason? They've signed with LIV Golf.

Smith's determination to join Greg Norman's circuit came with a sign-on cheque successful the portion of $140 million. It besides meant his rank of the PGA Tour was cancelled.

So, portion galore of the game's champion are competing for the $37 cardinal connected connection this week, the satellite No.5 won't beryllium there.

Neither volition Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Marc Leishman.

Smith's lack means he's conscionable the 4th champion successful the tournament's 49-year past who'll miss the accidental to support his title, the astir caller being Tiger Woods, who couldn't play successful 2014 owed to a backmost injury.

"He's 1 of our champions and past speaks for itself," said Players Championship brag Jared Rice.

"The play of each of our past champions speaks for itself. But 2023 is astir the players who volition beryllium here. We person our eyes guardant connected the product, which is the champion tract successful play again."

That connection seems somewhat delusional erstwhile you instrumentality into relationship that caller large champions successful Smith, Johnson, DeChambeau and Koepka are missing, but Austin Smotherman (currently ranked No.366), Kelly Kraft (No.485) and Robert Streb (No.328) get a start.

With each owed respect to Smotherman, Kraft and Streb, adjacent the keenest play fans would conflict to prime them successful a line-up.

Within days of Smith announcing he'd signed with the Saudi-backed league, the PGA Tour moved to strip the Australian of his playing privileges astatine the course, which included the precedence parking spot that was reserved for the defending champion.

The 4 large tournaments - The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship - person placed themselves supra the feud, and volition proceed to invitation each eligible players, careless of which circuit they play on.

As Wide World of Sports explained successful 2022, the PGA Tour does not tally the sport, overmuch arsenic it mightiness similar to deliberation it does.

From that constituent of view, it's just to reason the PGA Tour is perfectly entitled to bash everything imaginable to support its ain interests, and prohibition players who've signed with a rival tour.

But it's besides forfeited immoderate close to assertion The Players Championship deserves "fifth major" status.

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