Tiger Woods' arch-rival urges LIV to buy PGA Tour Champions

Chris DiMarco has urged the LIV Golf League to buy the PGA Tour Champions so they can play for some "real money."

LIV Golf
LIV Golf

Three-time PGA Tour winner Chris DiMarco has urged the LIV Golf League to purchase the PGA Tour Champions and confessed he wants to play for some "real money."

Speaking to the Golf's Subpar podcast, DiMarco was immediately questioned about the breakaway league and admitted that if it had existed when he was at the peak of his powers, he wouldn't have hesitated to ditch the PGA Tour. 

DiMarco, 55, was once the sixth-best player in the world and finished second in two majors, the 2005 Masters and the 2006 Open. 

On both occasions, Tiger Woods pipped him to first place. 

DiMarco now plays on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, and despite not having won a tournament on the Tour, he has accumulated over $1m in prize money. 

Regardless of the amount of cash he has amassed, DiMarco would welcome a cash injection from the endlessly wealthy LIV Golf League. 

Speaking to Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, he said:

"We're kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour to tell you the truth. Let's play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we're getting $2 million. There were like seven guys out there last week at TPC that made more money than our purses."

Watch the full interview below

 

 

With LIV clearly on the mind, Knost and Stoltz continued to question DiMarco about the controversial league, and he gave a refreshingly honest evaluation of the current state of the men's game.

He added:

"I don't fault any of those guys for going to LIV; if you had asked me the same thing in 2004/5 when I was at the height of my career, see ya later, I'm gone, and it would be purely a monetary thing, for me. We're talking generational money these guys are making. It would be nice to have that in the bank and have your kids taken care of. I don't see any problem with it. 
"When they first came out, and they said, you know we're playing less golf, all that's bulls**t. You know what? They just want to play for a lot of money. And they deserve it; they've had some great careers, so why not go and get some money? 
"I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, 'Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.' And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too."

DiMarco also joined a long list of players to criticise Jay Monahan and, in particular, how he handled the announcement of a proposed framework deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. 

"Not to bash Jay Monahan, but I think he handled it terribly. In the beginning have the cut and dry [stance] that he did, I think it was a little too much.
"I think he should have let some of this soak in and see what was going to happen, and he just got to a point where it got black and white, that’s it. I think he could have done a little bit better of a job with that, the guys had stuck by. Like Rory McIlroy, these guys have turned down a lot of money and what do they have to show for it? These guys get to come back and play, I’d be pretty ticked off if I was them."

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Johnny Percival
Reviews Editor

Johnny joined GolfMagic as Reviews Editor in 2023 having worked for Sports Impact for two years as Head of Social Media, working alongside prominent golf brands including Galvin Green, Motocaddy and Wilson.

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