BROOKLINE, Massachusetts (AP) — Luke Gannon is playing in his first US Open and had one of those moments that made him realize this was a stage unlike any the Kansan has played. It was also a bit clunky.
He looked 150 yards down to the 11th green and found a small target on The Country Club’s shortest hole. To the left of the green, waiting for him to hit, stood a player in white shorts, a black shirt, remnants of a beard, no hat, and someone in no hurry.
Phil Mickelson only wore a wedge and a putter and waved it through.
The Sunday before US Open week is rarely more peaceful with only a few dozen players checking out the course, and a few caddies arriving in front of their players to walk the course and check the distances.
The peace won’t last long, and this time it’s not just about the US Open and its reputation as the toughest test in golf.
Mickelson had arrived from London, where he was one of 12 players at the US Open who took part in the Saudi-funded debut of the LIV Golf Invitational. Half of those players were PGA Tour members a few weeks ago. Mickelson still is and chooses not to cancel his membership.
The first official practice day on Monday will include Mickelson in the first press conference of the week, where he will likely ask more questions about the lucrative LIV Golf renegade circuit than his attempt to finally end 30 years of frustration at the only major he has not won.
Mickelson didn’t want to share those thoughts until Monday. He continued with his work, placing four large boards around the green for practice.
The subject is unavoidable and threatens to overshadow the second oldest golf championship held at Brookline, one of the five founding golf clubs when the USGA was founded in 1894.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan only fueled the debate’s passion when he expressed his first public thoughts since announcing he would be suspending all PGA Tour members who signed up. For how long? Monahan was unwilling to say.
But he made sharp remarks during his 12-minute appearance on CBS at the Canadian Open. He called LIV Golf nothing more than a series of exhibition games. True, he said, pure competition was found on the PGA Tour, and it was that stage that created the profiles and presence of players who are now cashing in on Saudi wealth.
As for the backlash for players taking money from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, a country known for its abysmal human rights record?
“I would ask any player who has left, or any player who would ever consider leaving, ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being on the PGA Tour?’” Monahan said.
He was asked why players like Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and even the lesser known players like Talor Gooch couldn’t play both tours. He answered with a question of his own.
“Why do they need us so badly?” said Monahan. “Those players have chosen to sign multi-year, lucrative contracts to play against the same players over and over in a series of exhibition games. You look at that versus what we see here today.”
The Canadian Open consisted of a final group of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau and was not decided until the end. McIlroy birdied his last two holes for a 62 to win by one against Finau (62), while Thomas bogeyed the last two holes for a 64.
A day after LIV Golf finished its 54-hole event with Charl Schwartzel winning $4.75 million ($4 million for his score, $750,000 as part of the winning team), the Canadian Open had huge crowds with thousands around the 18th green.
“It’s real and pure competition that creates the profiles and presence of the world’s biggest players,” Monahan said. “And that’s why they need us. That is what we do.”
McIlroy sprang into action. It was the first time he had defended a title on the PGA Tour – he had to wait two years when the Canadian was canceled by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 – and his TV interview included a dig at Norman.
McIlroy has said that such a “super league” was a bad idea, even before Norman got involved. Norman told the Washington Post that McIlroy had been “brainwashed” by the tour.
The win was McIlroy’s 21st on the PGA Tour.
“Some more than others,” McIlroy said.
Norman has 20.
McIlroy already has four majors, twice as many as Norman, and he will hope to add that total and wonder why he was without eight years.
With so much chatter about whether this Saudi-backed league is good for golf, a force for golf or just a cash grab for a majority of players at the end of their careers, McIlroy probably won’t be hassled about when he’ll be next major win.
Maybe that will change on Thursday.
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