Zach Dean
Videos by OutKick
Lee Westwood has never been one to mince words, and the LIV golfer is now taking aim at Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and the rest of the PGA Tour.
The two superstar golfers have been at the forefront of the PGA’s latest attempt to combat Greg Norman’s rival LIV Golf league.
Last week, Woods held a players-only meeting to rally the troops, and PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan unveiled sweeping changes to The Tour on Wednesday, including several mega events starting with $20 million purses.
Sound familiar? It does to Westwood!
“I laugh at what the PGA Tour players have come up with,” he told Eurosport. “It’s just a copy of what LIV is doing. There are a lot of hypocrites out there. They all say LIV is ‘not competitive.’ They all point at the no-cut aspect of LIV and the ‘short fields.’
“Now, funnily enough, they are proposing 20 events that look a lot like LIV.”
What are the biggest changes to the PGA Tour?
Other changes to the PGA going forward include doubling the money awarded from the Player Impact Program (PIP) from $10 to $20 million, a travel stipend and an ‘earnings assurance program’ that will pay a guaranteed ‘league minimum of $500,000 per player.
Westwood was one of the several original defectors to LIV Golf in the spring, saying his age played a big role. The 49-year-old eventually resigned his membership from the PGA, citing schedule conflicts.
“I am going to play in the (BMW) PGA Championship at Wentworth next month, which will be my fourth DP World Tour start of the year,” he added. “I do want to retain my membership there.”
I am increasingly convinced that Greg Norman is being advised by a group of popular 7th grade girls pic.twitter.com/wPBJ1M5Wzc
— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) August 24, 2022
While many point to the Tour’s recent changes as an admission that LIV Golf has been in the right all along, Westwood – a two-time Tour winner – doesn’t easily forget.
“Hopefully, at some point they will all choke on their words. And hopefully, they will be held to account as we were in the early days,” he said.
I laugh at Lee that his age made his decision. it was called easy money. That he wouldn’t get cut (tell me when he was in contention on Sunday), work a lot less. I wonder if he gets injured, does he still get money for the tournament that he has to play in, since they are guaranteed money in the tournament.
Eldrick
As we get older, of course we should strive to make more money doing less.