Kaymer Skips BMW: ‘Of Course There Will be Friction’

It has been difficult to keep track of where everybody stands on LIV Golf. What has been said? When it was said? What has been implied? Who’s playing where?

It is hard to monitor, and that’s with both ears pressed to the ground, and multiple tabs open, trying daily to get the latest. Here’s what we have gathered from the last week alone:

• Bubba Watson came out and said he didn’t want to be at Augusta if he was not wanted there.
• But then Phil Mickelson said he absolutely wants to be at Augusta next year.
• Speaking about LIV Golf; Rory McIlroy said, “I hate what it’s done to the game of golf. I really do. It’s gonna be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth and seeing 18 of them there. It just doesn’t sit right with me”.
• Gary Player slammed any player who joined LIV, stating that it was a sign of no confidence in their game.
• Freddie Couples scorned any tournament that doesn’t require 4 rounds.

🚨Kaymer is skipping the BMW PGA over fears of friction between players: “Of course, there will be friction there, that’s why I’m not going. I don’t need to go to a place where, feel-wise, you’re not that welcome. They don’t say it, but it’s there.” (Via @golfdigest)

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) September 2, 2022

Today, Martin Kaymer said he will not be attending the BMW PGA, stating that there will be friction. He said that he doesn’t need to go to a place where “you’re not that welcome.”

It’s fair to say that the arrival of LIV Golf has divided the game rather than growing it. Social media doesn’t help. The inordinate amounts of money won’t help either because that automatically creates a rift between players. If money is the metric we will focus on going forward, and the LIV golfers acquire more of it for doing less, that will start to grate on the PGA Tour players, no matter how strong your mental game is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Martin Kaymer (@martinkaymer59)

It’s all we are talking about because the PGA Tour has raised the purses for next year in a desperate attempt to reel in the seemingly unassailable LIV Golf train. If Kaymer, a former World #1 and Ryder Cup winner, is concerned about the tension felt at the BMW PGA event between players, how do we fix that?

It comes down to respect, which money cannot buy. Rory McIlroy will respect Kaymer less for joining LIV, simple as that. Same with Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. They chose to abandon the PGA Tour and go directly against it, then commence a lawsuit against their former Tour, then speak out against it via social media.

I feel in six months, there will be critical junctures we can look back and identify along the way. After all, hindsight vision is 20/20.

One was DJ signing, the next was Stenson, then Cam Smith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by LIV Golf (@livgolfinv)

In six months, I expect two fairly similar Tours playing in mutually exclusive spheres, nothing to do with one another. The lawsuit will still probably have a couple of names on it. The LIV field will acquire and subsequently release a few more straggling players.

This is also not what golf needs, as each weekly Tour win will not have a full-strength field. Furthermore, if LIV events fail to contribute to world ranking points, the entire ranking system will require an asterisk. Is there a way back from this rift between the world’s best golfers? Kaymer does not appear positive. We will continue listening for the next step in this tumultuous journey. With new soundbites every day, the future is hard to predict.

Cover Image Via PlanetSport