Padraig Harrington said the PGA Tour is missing its most exciting players and that a solution to golf’s rift needs to happen soon.
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Padraig Harrington played in last week’s PGA Championship, which featured Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, and went one out.
“God, we miss Bryson,” Harrington said.
In a Golf Channel interview live at the Kitchenaid PGA Championship on Wednesday, Harrington said the division in golf has hurt the sport, and big weeks like last week prove how good the product can be when everyone comes together (Sunday ratings on CBS were up 10% from last year).
The only problem is, that happens less and less these days.
“Bryson was a box last week and he really helped that tournament,” Harrington said. “… It was fun, interesting, and fun to watch. So yes we miss those guys. As I’ve said before, it’s hard to believe we’re missing Patrick Reed; it is what it is.”
While DeChambeau finished second and seemed to have most of Sunday’s gallery in his corner, Reed didn’t make the cut, finishing 53rd. But Harrington’s comments about the loss of DeChambeau and Reed speak to a larger point that has been made repeatedly over the past few years. With guys like DeChambeau, Reed and Brooks Koepka now at LIV Golf, it has robbed the PGA Tour of some of its most controversial, exciting or exciting — for DeChambeau, it might be all three — sports.
Like them or not, those types of players bring eyeballs to the game and add to the storylines.
Next month will be one year since the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund agreed to merge, however for now that remains to be seen, with little progress made publicly (other than members of the PGA Tour Policy Board resigning).
On Wednesday at the Colonial Country Club, preparing for the Charles Schwab Challenge, Jordan Spieth, a member of the board, said: “I think the story that things are in a bad place and it’s slow and, you know, some of the things he asked me or said is not true. I think, I know it’s a lie, actually. Actually, things are going well on both sides.”
So, what is Paddy’s solution?
“I think, in the end, if you want me to have a complete solution I’ll have at least two tours and have a crossover, like we did back in the day,” Harrington said. “Everybody has a chip on their shoulder. A certain number of players can go back and forth, something like that. Competition is a good thing in sports, it’s always useful, but we need a solution, I’ll say that. That’s one thing. Every day for the last two years I have had a vision and all I have found is wow, it keeps moving and changing because the environment is changing. I think every golfer is looking for a solution.”
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