Chris DiMarco suggested a LIV Golf take over the PGA Champions Tour to have the purses boosted. The talks for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to have a definitive merger have been ongoing since last June. And while December was the deadline for it, a proper decision is yet to come. The latest news stated that negotiations are proceeding and a resolution will be found by April.
Amid this tussle, DiMarco, who plays at the PGA Tour Champions, suggested that the LIV fraternity take control of his tour and help in spiking the payouts for the golfers. He talked about the same in the SubPar podcast.
PGA Tour Champions Golfer Hopes To Have LIV Golf As New Owner
He started the conversation with the fact that he’s hoping LIV Golf will buy his league and help the event prizes go up substantially for the winners and other players. The Hoag Classic of the tour had a $2 million purse and the entire 2024 schedule boasted $67 million for 28 events. On the other hand, the PGA Tour has a $400 million purse for 38 events.
“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour…Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”
In the same interview, DiMarco also seemed to support LIV golfers who jumped from their previous tour.
“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money…saw Graeme McDowell…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.”
He upheld the example of Graeme McDowell to legitimize his point. DiMarco was critical of Jay Monahan’s leadership and stated that it was terrible. Therefore, quite evidently, this golfer is in support of LIV Golf and could have switched if he had the choice.
