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Four-time Major Champion Ernie Els is currently playing in the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. After completing his first round, he gave an enthralling statement on the PGA Tour-PIF merger deal.
As reported by Golf Australia, Els slammed the American golf circuit, PGA Tour, and urged them to back off the deal with the Saudi-backed league. Ernie Els claimed that if this has happened during his prime, there would have been no way Jay Monahan would have been around. He said,
"If this happened in my day, in my prime, there's no way he (Monahan) is around. No way. And the board has to change. I'm sorry, it's not right. Talk to us, tell us what you're going to do, plan on negotiating."
Ernie Els added that no one could go 'rogue' and bring deals thinking that all the players would blindly agree.
"Don't just go rogue as a member of the board and come back with a deal and think we're all going to say 'yes'. You're affecting people's lives. You're affecting the professional game. It's just so bad," added Els.
He, later on, went on to call LIV Golf 'circus golf' slamming the breakaway series' team format. He said,
This is circus golf. Team golf doesn't work. It works maybe in a two-month, three-month happy season. Get these guys together, get teams together and play around the world. But then play real golf."
Els concluded by saying that he takes pride in playing majors and mentions Tiger Woods who gets to the major tournaments every year despite multiple health issues.
"That's what this thing is all about. That's what I prided myself on, like Tiger (Woods) and some of these guys - getting yourself into majors and grinding," Ernie Els conluded.
What will Ernie Els tee up at The Open Championship 2023 round two?
The former World no. 1 Ernie Els is paired with Kurt Kitayama and Takumi Kanaya and will take tee up at 8:37 am.
Here are the tee times post 8:00 am ET:
- 8:04 am - Stewart Cink, JT Poston, Trey Mullinax
- 8:15 am - Henrik Stenson, Harris English, Andrew Putnam
- 8:26 am - Scott Stallings, Jordan Smith, Thorbjorn Olesen
- 8:37 am - Ernie Els, Kurt Kitayama, Takumi Kanaya
- 8:48 am - Sam Burns, Sepp Straka, Chris Kirk
- 9:04 am - Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jason Day
- 9:15 am - Padraig Harrington, Seamus Power, Talor Gooch
- 9:26 am - K.H. Lee, Davis Riley, Taiga Semikawa
- 9:37 am - Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama
- 9:48 am - Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
- 9:59 am - Cameron Smith, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark
- 10:10 am - Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre
- 10:21 am - Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim, Bryson DeChambeau
- 10:32 am - Nicolai Hojgaard, Bio Kim, Kazuki Yasumori
- 10:43 am - Dan Bradbury, Oliver Farr, Haydn Barron
- 10:54 am - Marcel Siem, Martin Rohwer, Tiger Christensen (a)
- 11:05 am - Lee Hodges, Antoine Rozner, Richard Bland
- 11:16 am - Yannik Paul, Sami Valimaki, Laurie Canter
Details of The Open Championship, Saturday, Round three tee times will be updated once released
