Justin Thomas Admits What Others Are Thinking: Next Year's No-Cut PGA Tour Events Are 'Extremely Similar' To LIV Golf's
The PGA Tour recently announced that next year's schedule will feature eight elevated events that will consist of limited fields and no cut after 36 holes. While the Tour, its players, and plenty of media members have tried to spin that the Tour's no-cut events aren't at all similar to LIV Golf's format, others, myself included, can't ignore just how similar the two formats actually are.
Justin Thomas sees the similarities as well, and on Tuesday became the first PGA Tour player to publically admit it.
During his Tuesday presser ahead of this week's Players, Thomas was asked what the difference was between the no-cut designated events and LIV Golf.
He took a dig at the Saudi-backed circuit while accurately stating the Tour's fields are consistently stronger before admitting the designated events and LIV Golf's format are extremely similar.
"Well, we have an astronomically higher amount of quality players than they do in their events (laughing). But, no, it's very -- yeah it's extremely -- I think all of us have not been shy to say it that, you know, this is stuff that we've been trying to do and have worked on," Thomas, the 2021 Players champion explained. "Obviously got sped up a crazy amount due to what was going on in the outside.
"But, yeah, I mean you could say it in different ways but it's no different than the WGCs were; there's just obviously more than there were WGCs. We still have your regular, you know, cut events. I don't know, I mean if you're just going to single out those events and have them only be the events we have, then, yeah, it's extremely similar. But there's a lot more going on over the course of an entire year on the PGA TOUR than just the elevated events, I would say."
Justin Thomas is aware that the PGA Tour no-cut format is eerily similar to LIV Golf's. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PGA Tour Designated Events vs. LIV Golf
While LIV Golf events consist of 54 player fields who play just 54 holes, most would agree its most distinct feature and selling point to players is the no-cut aspect, which guarantees a payday for every player in the field.
The PGA Tour's no-cut elevated events next year will have fields of 70-80 players and will stick to the traditional 72-hole format, it's the no-cut guaranteed paycheck for every player in the tournament that feels like a simple copy-and-paste job from the Tour.
As Thomas noted, the designated event setup is eerily similar to the previously seen in the no-cut World Golf Championship (WGC) events, but the Tour recently began phasing those out with just the WGC matchplay event being the only one on this year’s schedule.
Now, all the Tour seems to be doing is re-introducing WGC events with a different name. Justin Thomas, like everyone else, can see that.
Getting rid of the cut in various elevated events next year is yet another way to keep the biggest stars on Tour happy. There is nothing wrong with that, but let's stop the charade that the Tour's elevated events aren't essentially the exact same format LIV Golf implements each week.
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