Lucas Glover isn’t keen on LIV golfers returning to the PGA Tour, and cast doubt on whether a deal will get done by revealing “I don’t think we care anymore about this unification, and I don’t think they do either”
Former US Open champion Lucas Glover hinted that a golfing reunification may never happen – saying that “I don’t think we care anymore about this unification, and I don’t think they do either” when talking about the stalled PGA Tour-LIV Golf talks.
Glover is struggling with the continued PGA Tour-LIV Golf saga, as while he realizes how some big names returning would help the sport, as a player he insists “I don’t want them here”.
During his SiriusXM Radio show, Glover pulled back the curtain on what perhaps is stalling talks to heal the prolonged split in golf, which he looks at from two perspectives – from a golf fan and also a PGA Tour player.
And as a PGA Tour loyalist, it’s very clear what Glover thinks about the possibility of LIV Golf players returning one day.
“I don’t want to play with them, me personally,” Glover said on his SiriusXM show. “I don’t think they should be back here, I don’t want them here.
“They made their decision, I don’t blame any of them, they made a decision – I don’t care – but they also went away from this tour, and chose to.
“As a PGA Tour player and somebody who dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour and poured my heart and soul into this tour and and game for 21 seasons now, I don’t want somebody that chose another path, and a path of least resistence.
“I don’t want them back here competing and taking part of my pie and these kids’ pie who are trying to make it now. I don’t want that.”
The struggle for Glover, and perhaps other PGA Tour players, is that he knows that for the good of the game as a whole, having the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and others back would be a big positive.
“We, as a group as golf fans, yes, the top five or six players over there if they were playing on the PGA Tour would benefit all of us,” Glover admitted.
So whether Glover should put aside his personal feelings “to grow our sport by bringing some of those guys back” is the question he’s stuck on.
I don’t think we care anymore about this unification thing
While the dilemma for players is one thing, more tellingly could be the fact that neither the PGA Tour nor LIV Golf feel any urgency to get a deal done, which prompts the question of whether we will actually get an agreement.
“As far as the stalemate, ‘we’, being the PGA Tour, I don’t think we even care anymore,” Glover said of the feeling behind the scenes on a deal with LIV. “I think we’re focused on going forward.
“They’re not coming off the team thing, and that’s fine. Our focus now is forward, forward, forward. We’re going to grow our sport, grow our tour and grow golf through the PGA Tour, which is how it’s always been and always should’ve been.”
Again, though, it’s tinged with regret that the world’s best players won’t be facing each other more often, but Glover says the appetite for a deal isn’t really there.
“I don’t think we care anymore about this unification, and I don’t think they do either, and that’s fine with me, but it’s also kind of short-sighted of me because if five, six, seven, eight of them still move the needle for the public that’d help us grow even bigger.”