The golf world has been split into two halves ever since the inception of LIV Golf in 2022. However, to come to some sort of arrangement, the PIF had announced to come down to an agreement, and the deadline for it to pass was December 31, 2023. Now that it is getting close to a year, and there have still been no advancements in the merger, many players have started feeling frustrated about it. And it’s not just the players that have been put in this position, there is a possibility that a lot of the fans, too, are losing interest in the sport.
This is practically why the viewership rates have reduced to a high extent for both leagues. Billy Horschel, who has been one of the strongest critics of the breakaway league, now seems to have come up with a different stance. The DP World Tour has reached Scotland for the Dunhill Links Championship to begin in a few hours. Since it is a common ground, the field has fourteen LIV Golfers, with other top PGA Tour players like Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel. There was a post-round presser held after the Wednesday practice round at St. Andrews. In it, Horschel clearly stated that he continues to hold grudges against the breakaway league.
However, he was also pretty clear about the fact that he wanted the civil war in the golf world to come to an end. NUCLR Golf took to their official X account and shared his statement, where he revealed that the fans have suffered the most in the process. “But I do believe now looking at the game of golf, which I could never imagine at that point sitting there and speaking how I spoke, that the divide that we’ve created in the game of golf would create such a disinterest in the fans. And that’s really who has sort of been hurt by all this,” said Horschel.
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🚨➗⛳️ #DIVISION — Billy Horschel says the fans have suffered as a result of the ongoing rift in professional golf: “But I do believe now looking at the game of golf, which I could never imagine at that point sitting there and speaking how I spoke, that the divide that we’ve… pic.twitter.com/YwIEyD3kwb
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) October 3, 2024
While Horschel was thinking about the fans, looks like the golf community was left completely unimpressed with his concerns for them.
Fans prove Billy Horschel wrong
Billy Horschel had once called the golfers hypocrites for leaving the PGA Tour and joining LIV Golf. Additionally, he has more than once shown his concern as to why the players from the breakaway league were even allowed to be a part of the Majors. Rory McIlroy who recently showed his frustration with the feud too was once against all the players who made the drift.
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Now, all of a sudden they have joined hands to bring the golf world together. Taking to this, one of the fans wrote, “One of my abiding memories of the whole saga is Billy on the putting green at Wentworth asking why guys like Poulter and Westwood were playing there And then it turned out he’d negotiated with LIV but asked for more than they would pay. Guys like Billy and Rory have been a big part of the problem. Might be time for them to just zip it”.
But looks like, the fans are pretty fine, enjoying the banter going on between the two leagues. It is evident from comments like, “Who’s suffering? We have all the same old golf plus a dozen or so times a year we got an extra 15 hours with no commercials”, and “I love the feud between the PGA and LIV! It’s like the East Coast/West Coast rappers from back in the day!”
The LIV Golf has 54 holes, and the events are played over three days instead of four. This is one of the reasons why it does not qualify for the OWGR points. However, the players are divided into separate teams, and the gala events after each tournament have always managed to capture the attention of the audience. Taking to this, one of the users stated, “I don’t feel like I’ve been hurt at all. LIV is awesome. The game is changing for the good.” Another fan, correcting Horschel’s statement, simply wrote, “That’s where Billy is wrong. The American fans may have suffered a little, but everyone else around the world has benefited.”
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What are your thoughts on Billy Horschel’s new stance? Let us know in the comments section below!
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