The PIVGAL Cup is something the golf world needs
- col-dave-mast
- April 5, 2023
- 548
With a cousin who has been a longstanding member of the PGA since 1973 in Dick Mast, and as a longtime avid golfer myself, I’ve always enjoyed watching the greatest players on earth battle it out on a Sunday afternoon on some of the finest courses worldwide.
The PGA has always been about the best of the best matching nerves of steel, powerful drives and the touch of an angel around the greens, and week after week from Tom Weiskopf to Viktor Hovland and Tom Watson to Bubba Watson, the guys on the PGA tour have provided some of the greatest golf I could ever dream of playing.
Then the LIV came rolling in like a tornado from the east and swept away seemingly half of the players.
There was much consternation as some of the game’s greats left the PGA for what they viewed as greener pastures in a league owned by Saudi Public Investment Fund that promised golfers that their greener pastures would be filled not with grass but with cash.
It was in inexplicable amount of money, and many of the professionals who left made no bones about the fact that the guaranteed money was the lure.
The name LIV refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied and the number of holes to be played at LIV events. The tour is even CEO’d by one of the PGA’s all-time greats, Greg Norman.
As players leaked to the LIV one by one, then in groups, those who remained behind expressed their disdain for their golf brethren who made the switch, feeling as though they were being betrayed.
It got to the point that on Sept. 28, 2022, the PGA filed a countersuit against LIV, arguing that LIV and the Saudi Public Investment Fund had wrongly interfered in PGA’s business by offering players millions of dollars to break their PGA contracts and play for LIV instead.
Old-school PGA players expressed their disgust for the LIV players. The LIV players expressed their dissatisfaction with the way the PGA left young players to struggle to make a living.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, two of the PGA’s biggest names and most staunch supporters, tried to soothe the ill will while promoting the virtues of the time-tested PGA Tour.
For now, both tours have flourished and both sides seem happy where they are.
Then came the Masters the week of April 6-9.
While the two tours do their own thing, the Masters welcomed the LIV players back into the fold in one of golf’s grandest tournaments.
There was much discussion on what would take place at Augusta, but many of these players have been friends for a long time and despite their differences, everyone was on cordial terms.
So, what is it exactly that I’d like to see take place, as mentioned in the title of this column?
For decades the Ryder Cup has been one of the most intense and highly anticipated golf showcases ever.
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men’s golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe and ask any touring pro and they will probably tell you that there is more pressure packed into that week than any other.
Picture yourself standing over a 10-footer; if you sink it, you win $10 million, if you miss, you get nothing.
Good luck with that.
That’s the type of pressure these guys put on themselves for the Ryder Cup.
I believe that same kind of juice could come from a Cup format between the PGA and LIV.
The PGA players firmly believe that their tour offers the greatest players in the game. The LIV players humbly, and sometimes not so humbly, disagree with that assessment, and both groups have a case that can be made on their behalf.
Alrighty then, why not create a format which would flesh that out in front of billions who would watch this spectacle take place and let their games do the talking?
Can you imagine the kind of fervor that would create in the golf world?
Coached by Norman himself, the LIV team would boast talent like Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and more guys who were consistently riding high in the PGA before defecting to the LIV.
The PGA would counter with a team coached by the great Tiger Woods, modern day spokesman for the PGA. His crew would include John Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth and a list of golfers bent on defending the pride of the PGA.
There’s absolutely no reason this annual contest wouldn’t be an absolute juggernaut win for everyone involved. Can you imagine the tension that throwing these two head-butting tours together for a showdown would create?
The TV ratings would be incredible, fans would devour the idea of pitting these two together and my guess is there would even be some trash talking going on, WWE style.
No, I’m sure that this has to happen and now. They could call it the PIVGAL Cup, a conglomeration of the two tours’ letters.
No money on the line, only the pride of defending your tour, and that is something that makes these guys more nervous than any amount of money can add to the mix.
Let’s go boys, make it happen, because the world is waiting to see the fireworks.