Padraig Harrington Had Nothing But Good Things to Say About This LIV Golfer

While at their core, sports are all about results, the truth is that leagues and events need an entertainment aspect to thrive.

After all, sports compete with movies, Netflix shows, and all sorts of other forms of entertainment for people’s attention and dollars. 

What is plaguing the world of men’s professional golf is that some of the athletes who resonate with viewers the most are not competing against each other at the highest level as often.

Never has this been more apparent than last weekend’s PGA Championship, when eventual winner Xander Schauffele dueled down the stretch with Bryson DeChambeau, currently of LIV Golf.

In defeat, DeChambeau was one of the biggest stories of the tournament since he wears his emotions on his sleeve. Sticking up for a young fan didn’t hurt either.

Great moment from Bryson dechambeau, he tossed a kid his ball after #9 that gets intercepted by an older man and waits until it gets back in the right hands 🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/NgxfwwVgwZ

— anthony (@asreynolds24) May 20, 2024

The problem is, we won’t see DeChambeau again at this level until next month’s U.S. Open. And after July’s Open Championship, that will be it for 2024. 

While LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman would hope that you would tune in to his product to see DeChambeau play more frequently, that just isn’t happening so far as the league is working its way through its third season.

Padraig Harrington, a PGA Championship and two-time Open Championship winner, summed this up perfectly with one sentence.

“God, we miss Bryson.”

“What I realized last week? We miss Bryson… Bryson was box office last week.” – Padraig Harrington reflects on the state of golf, including PGA TOUR and LIV. @eamonlynch @damonhackGC pic.twitter.com/e9BuNmIxwX

— Golf Today (@GCGolfToday) May 22, 2024

In comments on Golf Channel, Harrington expounded on that statement by saying:

“Bryson was box office last week and really, really helped that tournament … It was fantastic, interesting, exciting watching it. So yeah we do miss those guys. As I’ve said before, it’s hard to believe we miss Patrick Reed; that’s just the way it is.”

A slight dig at Reed aside, Harrington said that the game – like any other sport – benefits from larger-than-life personalities. 

In a couple of weeks, it will be a full year since the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced the framework agreement that was supposed to unite men’s professional golf on June 6, 2023. 

While the golf world has identified the problem, coming up with a solution seems to be more difficult.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine