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Butch Harmon is one of the best golf instructors of all time. He's been responsible for countless PGA Tour stars getting to that level and becoming some of the best golfers in the world.
He's also, evidently, not anti-LIV Golf. He revealed this on the Five Clubs podcast via Golf.com:
“Now I will say this, that the guys on the PGA Tour that have been very vocal against the guys on the LIV Tour ought to thank them because all of a sudden the Tour found $250 million to raise their prize money to get those elite tournaments up to 20 million prize money — oh yes, just like LIV. They got that PIP system to make a whole bunch more money — oh yeah, just like LIV. So look, it's not the devil out there that's portrayed."
There is a serious divide between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. This will be the second full year for LIV and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The animosity from the Tour has only grown as a result.
This has been brewing for a while, but is arguably coming to a head. Patrick Reed (LIV Golf) and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy went at it during the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
There's also a court case going on to determine whether or not the Tour has to allow LIV golfers to play the same events. PGA Tour people believe it'll work in their favor and LIV Golf members believe there's no chance they'll lose.
Nevertheless, the divide is growing each and every day and there aren't many involved who are like Butch Harmon. Most of the involved parties are heavily anti-LIV or heavily pro-LIV.
Harmon, on the other hand, seems to be pretty neutral. At the very least, he's giving LIV credit for disrupting the game of golf (in a good way), which is arguably what LIV Golf set out to do.
Obviously, there's already been an impact. There's plenty of money flowing into LIV, which was a big draw for players to defect. As a result, the PGA Tour, like Harmon mentioned, now has more money going to players.
It's obviously not comparable to the impressive totals that players can earn in the Saudi-funded league, but there's already been a change in response.
Butch Harmon says he's not "anti-LIV"
Butch Harmon has long been a big part of the PGA Tour, but that hasn't stopped him from being objective:
“Look, I’m not anti-LIV Golf like a lot of people. I think we live in a society of free enterprise. I think you have the right to do anything you want to do. Guys that were offered a lot of money, I would say you would be a fool to turn it down."
He continued:
"The guys that left the PGA Tour to go play in LIV, I have no problem with it, I’ll be honest with you. Their circumstances were they knew they weren’t going to be able to go back over here and play at the present time, so just stay over here and play."
Perhaps more PGA members will start thinking like Butch Harmon.
