Two of the world’s top three players have made their positions known regarding the proposed Premier Golf League, essentially a world tour for the game’s top players. Brooks Koepka, No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, told the Associated Press on Sunday that he had no interest in the concept.
“I am out of the PGL. I’m going with the PGA Tour,” Koepka told the Associated Press. “I have a hard time believing golf should be about just 48 players.”
Koepka’s thoughts are in line with those already expressed – multiple times – by world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy first made his position known at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Feb. 19 but doubled down on his dissent during an interview with the Golf Channel after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“You’re going to be contracted to play 18 events, they’re going to tell you where and when you should be there, and as a golfer and an independent contractor I didn’t like the sound of that,” McIlroy said, “and I didn’t really like where the money was coming from either.”
“I wanted to be the first one to speak out against it. I’m glad that I have. I’m glad that I’ve done that.”
Koepka told the AP that he made up his mind on the PGL after meeting with organizers in Los Angeles during the Genesis Invitational, Koepka’s first PGA Tour start of 2020 and one in which he finished T-43.
A player’s freedom as to when he did or didn’t play was a sticking point for McIlroy, and Koepka referenced it too. Koepka also expressed a concern for players who don’t fall at the very top echelon of the sport but still make their living playing it.
“I get that the stars are what people come to see,” Koepka told the Associated Press. “But these guys who we see win, who have been grinding for 10 or 15 years, that’s what makes the cool stories. I’d have a hard time looking at guys and putting them out of a job.”
With some of the biggest names in the world having come out against the PGL, the momentum seems decidedly against the proposed tour.
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