PGA Tour pro trashes LIV team model as "fake" then questions Tiger Woods' TGL

PGA Tour pro Peter Malnati believes the LIV Golf team model is "forced".

17 Mar 2024

PGA Tour player director Peter Malnati has ripped into LIV Golf's team model as "fake" and questioned Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's new interactive TGL.

Malnati, 36, is one of six player directors on the PGA Tour alongside Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson.

He spoke openly about a number of topics in the world of golf right now following a third-round 66 at The Players Championship on Saturday.

Malnati revealed all the player directors had not been made aware of a meeting with PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan on Monday, despite a report saying it would happen.

Scott has urged all six player directors including Woods to meet with PIF sooner rather than later in order to either thrash out a deal, or move on.

But it was Malnati's explosive comments about team golf that raised most eyebrows during his lengthy interview at Sawgrass.

PGA Tour player director Peter Malnati slams LIV Golf

Malnati, who has one victory to his name on the PGA Tour coming at the 2015 Sanderson Farms, slammed LIV Golf's current team model as "forced", "contrived" and "fake".

He also posed the question as to whether golf fans really care who wins the team event.

Malnati said:

"I don't know what they're doing, but it seems like a very forced team model, to me. When, at the end of the day, are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? I don't know what fans of LIV want or care about, but are there any fans that care about who won it?

"I mean, that seems so contrived to me. I feel like we could also create some contrived team golf something, somewhere outside of the FedEx Cup season. But what does he really want is a question that I want to understand better. Because I don't think it's some contrived, fake, add up random guys' scores and call them a team. I don't think that's it. I think what he means is more stuff like the Ryder Cup, I would guess, but I have no clue because I haven't talked to him."

Malnati questions TGL

Malnati was then asked for his opinion on Woods and McIlroy's new tech-infused TGL, which will also feature teams and captains.

He admitted he knew little details aboutTGL other than it involved selling and promoting team franchises like on LIV Golf.

TGL, the brainchild of McIlroy and Woods, was forced into a 2025 start after its stadium roof collapsed at the end of 2023.

Malnati said:

"Is that what we're doing with this TGL thing? The TGL, the teams of that are, like, owned by owners -- the only reason I even know that is because I saw the Atlanta team, there's a team in Atlanta, and it's like owned by the same guy that owns the Falcons who has now come onto the PGA TOUR Enterprises board, and it sounds really exciting, but I had no idea that's what TGL is. So there you go. There's some team golf. We'll whack it inside a dome or whatever they're doing."

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