It’s not often we hear Stephen A. Smith weigh in on anything golf-related, and after hearing his reaction to the Saudis pulling their funding of LIV Golf, we should all be incredibly thankful for that.
On Thursday, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) officially announced that it would be cutting ties with LIV at the end of the 2026 season after investing billions into the breakaway circuit. Among the many questions to follow is what it means for the players who left the PGA Tour to join LIV, who will presumably be seeking to jump back on Tour.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has hinted that the path back for defectors will be far from straight and clear. While we are likely months away from knowing any firm details, Smith has an idea of what should be required of players in order for them to return to the Tour: absolutely nothing.
INEVITABLE OUTCOME ARRIVES FOR LIV GOLF AS SAUDIS OFFICIALLY PULL PLUG ON FUNDING
Smith believes that the only figure to blame in this entire, ridiculous saga is the PGA Tour, therefore, it should welcome back players with wide-open arms.
“If the PGA decides to punish these golfers, we should be all — excuse my language — we should stay in their a– like white on rice. They should not be punishing anybody. It was their negligence, their abuse, their taking golfers for granted that forced the existence of LIV to begin with,” Smith said on Thursday’s edition of ‘First Take.’
“The players didn’t want to leave the PGA. They were forced to because they were looking for better opportunities based on how they were treated. And we know this because the PGA stepped in afterward, once LIV came into existence, and expressed a willingness to make modifications. They knew they had done the players wrong.”
“All they wanted was to be treated better,” Smith continued. “And the PGA stuck their nose up like the arrogant people that they were, and they mistreated these guys. Now that this is going away, supposedly, and these players from LIV are looking to come back, I don’t want to hear anything about punishment.
Smith is making it sound as if before LIV Golf came along, players on the PGA Tour were playing for a limited supply of food stamps and traveling around the country week after week as hitchhikers.
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Phil Mickelson earned $96 million on the PGA Tour before leaving for LIV Golf. Dustin Johnson earned nearly $76 million, Sergio Garcia made more than $55 million and Bubba Watson was just shy of $49 million in PGA Tour earnings before jumping ship.
Smith is absolutely correct in saying that players left the Tour looking for better opportunities, but those opportunities had absolutely nothing to do with legacy or the fabric of the sport in general. The opportunity was to make more money, and for stars like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, to become generationally wealthy with nine-figure contracts.
As for Smith’s comment about the PGA Tour making “modifications” after players left, well, of course it did, because it had to. The Tour, a nonprofit organization, was suddenly facing a foe being funded by the Saudi PIF valued at over $1 trillion.
LIV Golf undoubtedly forced the PGA Tour to evolve and change its operations to better benefit players, specifically the top-end talent. Smith didn’t just say that; he went to bat for a Saudi regime with a record of human rights atrocities that decided to throw blank checks at players to disrupt professional golf.
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