Sky Sports Golf lead provides LIV Golf warning: "It will produce mediocrity"
"Having $ in the bank before a tee is in the ground will produce mediocrity" - Sky Sports lead commentator Ewen Murray gives damning verdict of LIV Golf.
Sky Sports Golf lead commentator Ewen Murray believes we will see mediocre golf from some of the world's best players who have diverted from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf as a result of their huge signing-on fees.
Open champion Cameron Smith became the headline name on the LIV Golf Tour this week after accepting in the region of $100 million to join the Saudi-bankrolled series.
The majority of GolfMagic readers believe Smith has made a big mistake, especially having recently vaulted to second in the world rankings.
Joaquin Niemann, Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III, Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri also joined him ahead of LIV Golf Boston this Friday.
A number of the biggest names on LIV Golf such as Smith, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka to name just five are now tied down to huge multi-year contracts.
In the eyes of Murray, who has been the voice of Sky Sports Golf for more than 30 years, there is no longer any incentive for these players to really compete as the money is already in the bank.
Much about pros’s crossing over to LIV. I’ve not spoken on this. But I’ll say now, choice must never be taken away from anyone. Once made however, that’s their future. Great golf comes from competition. Having $ in the bank b4 a tee is in the ground will produce mediocrity.
— Ewen Murray (@ewenmurray77) August 30, 2022
"Much about pros’ crossing over to LIV. I’ve not spoken on this. But I’ll say now, choice must never be taken away from anyone," tweeted Murray.
"Once made however, that’s their future. Great golf comes from competition. Having $ in the bank before a tee is in the ground will produce mediocrity."
You could say we have certainly seen "mediocrity" from Mickelson in the first three LIV Golf tournaments so far as he is a combined 26-over par.
And you could argue similar for the likes of Koepka and DeChambeau, who have both looked well off their best games in recent months.
Johnson has flirted with the top of the leaderboard in each of the three LIV Golf tournaments so far, but he has yet to win any of them.
He did perform admirably at The Open, however, with a tie for sixth.
But you could argue that Johnson had something of note to play for that week.
