Sir Nick Faldo names the two LIV Golfers who have ‘hurt themselves’ by joining and ‘gone quiet’ recently

Add as preferred source on Google

LIV Golf has come in for more than its fair share of criticism over the years since its inception and now Sir Nick Faldo has had his say on why he thinks the tour is failing to deliver for the players on its roster.

LIV’s biggest success since it came along was when Bryson DeChambeau won the US Open in 2024.

However, in the main, the majors have not been a happy hunting ground and just last weekend we saw Rory McIlroy send DeChambeau packing at The Masters.

• READ MORE: Justin Thomas praised for moment of ‘ultimate integrity’ at the RBC Heritage as golf fans make Patrick Reed point again

With three of the four majors in 2024 won by PGA players, and the same situation in 2023 – albeit Jon Rahm did win one before moving to LIV – it begs the question of if LIV players are in good enough form to compete regularly.

And according to Sir Nick Faldo, the lack of regular events is harming LIV’s top players.

Sir Nick Faldo points out LIV Golf’s problem and makes point about Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith

Faldo is never shy of giving an opinion or two and after winning six majors himself, he knows a thing or two about being successful on the PGA Tour.

With that in mind, he’s very much in favour of the PGA Tour and its principles and speaking in an interview for The Times, he’s suggested LIV Golf’s model is hurting its best players, including major winners like Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith.

“If Max Verstappen only drove in a Formula One race four times a year, I’d be shocked if he could perform. You’ve got to be in the same arena all the time,” Faldo pointed out.

“They have a fail-free tour. They’ve got wonderful appearance fees and prize money galore and they’re guaranteed it next week whether they hit their hat or not. There’s no fear of failure, and that is a serious driving force. Cam Smith has gone quiet. Brooks has gone quiet. You can’t tell me that in some way it hasn’t affected them.

““I think they thought it was all going to be resolved and they could run off and, even if they had to pay half of it back in a fine, they’d make a huge amount of money.

“But I don’t think [the PGA Tour-LIV divide] needs to be resolved. They’ve gone off to play their tour. Fine. They’ve done incredibly well [financially] and, if your priority is a boatload of cash, you got it. But if you would rather have an incredible career, I think they’ve hurt themselves.”

• READ MORE: Keegan Bradley shares how he honestly feels about Rory McIlroy winning The Masters for the very first time last week

LIV Golf continues to get criticism

There are fans of the LIV Golf product out there and it does have its place in the golf world.

However, while ever it is a 54-hole format as it is now, it will never get the respect of the some of the best to ever do it.

The lack of OWGR points is hurting LIV players and eventually, once major exemptions or invites run out, you can imagine a world where players want back in on the PGA Tour.

Indeed, just recently, golf analyst Greg Ducharme claimed LIV players were out of order for being annoyed at a lack of OWGR points.

We’re playing a game here. We have rules here. You decided – very important word – you decided to leave that game and go start your own game, and then complain that you’re not invited, you’re not included in the game that you left. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. And you’ve made no effort to acquiesce to the rules that exist that aren’t changing,” he said.

“You’ve begged and wined and slammed your fists to try and get them to change their rules that they’ve had in place since the beginning of the OWGR. It really bothers me in that sense, just that general attitude. And then you hear, I believe this is right, half the players that got relegated from LIV last year are back on teams this year. And no-one from the International Series got an automatic exemption, I heard that as well.

“So it’s like they’ve gone further away from what it takes to acquire OWGR points. And I don’t understand that, I don’t understand the direction.”

What the future holds for LIV and its players, remains to be seen. But right now, it feels like we’re heading in a direction where less and less people are bothered about a unification.