“I don’t fault the guys,” Jack Nicklaus defends defected golfers, slams LIV Golf series for ‘trying to buy the game’ instead

Jack Nicklaus slammed the LIV Golf series for trying to buy the game, while defending the golfers who chose to make the switch.

“I don’t fault the guys,” Jack Nicklaus defends defected golfers, slams LIV Golf series for ‘trying to buy the game’ instead

Jack Nicklaus

The LIV Golf series is not one that has been welcomed since its inception. It has been fighting an uphill battle for itself as the Saudi backed series.. Those who have joined the series have been shunned from the PGA Tour as well. While there are many critics of the LIV Series, some have been a lot more outspoken than others.

Take Jack Nicklaus for example. The legendary golfer has slammed the LIV Golf series as the second season gets underway. Recently, he appeared on Sir Nick’s Round Table Chats on YouTube to talk about the controversial golf series. While Nicklaus does have a problem with the tour, he does not hold anything against the golfers who decided to join it. 

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“I don’t fault the guys who have gone to LIV,” he said. “You have to make a choice, between playing golf for a short period time, for a lot of money, to put away for your family, or do you have the loyalty to play regular golf, then the senior tour and into retirement.” Nicklaus said that the future of golf is going to change, and it could very well go LIV’s way.

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Jack Nicklaus criticises LIV Golf series for trying to “buy the game”

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However, to decide whether it goes the way of LIV Golf or not depends on the outcomes of the legal battle it has with the PGA Tour. It’s a quick hit and that’s their call, and I don’t fault that. But I don’t think it’s been good for the game of golf, the PGA Tour was forced to react and I don’t like the way we’ve automatically created a secondary tour within the main tour, we’ve created a second layer.”

Jack Nicklaus said that the whole point of the series in golf is to gain acceptability. However, LIV isn’t necessarily doing that. Nicklaus believes that LIV is trying to buy the game instead. “It’s money trying to buy the game, it’s trying to buy respectability, and I don’t think that’s what it’s all about. Somebody said they’re trying to buy the ability to sit on the veranda at Augusta National sipping Mint Julep with the membership and be accepted.” 

Nicklaus has been a fierce defender of the PGA Tour, ever since the LIV Golf series came into the picture. Nicklaus himself has had an illustrious career, with over 73 PGA wins throughout his lifetime. He has been an avid supporter of the tour, and it seems like nothing can change his opinion. He has been approached by the LIV Series in the past.

LIV Golf approached Nicklaus with an offer of over 80 million pounds. However, showing his loyalty to the Tour, he promptly rejected his offer. For him, it is not the money that is important. “The game of golf we played was because we loved the sport, we never played for money – money was a side thing that because we won on the golf course we could use our names to go and make a living – today the guys make a living on the golf course, which we didn’t,” concluded Nicklaus.

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