Just Days After Labelling LIV Golf ‘Flawed’ and Negating Its Identity, PGA CEO Backtracks His Sentiments Hours Before the 105th Championship

Published 05/17/2023, 1:00 PM EDT

The PGA Championship is due this week, and no one could be more excited than the man behind the tournament. With seventeen LIV golfers among the 156-member field, golf’s biggest major championship field could turn into a battlefield at the East Course at Oak Hill.

That is exactly what the PGA of America CEO, Seth Waugh, expects come Thursday. However, days after his “flawed” opinion on LIV Golf Series, the 62-year-old has remarkably turned the tables on the rebel league’s impact on golf.

PGA America CEO backtracks on previous LIV Golf comments

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Ahead of the season’s second major championship, the former business executive was speaking at the press conference when he made some unusual statements about LIV Golf. While accepting that the PIF-funded league’s impact disrupted the sport, he believed there were gains to reap from the overall situation.

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“When asked what do I think as a former businessman who looks at things, I think disruption is a good thing. I think good things have happened from that,” Waugh said. Indeed, the words came out from a former executive himself, having worked at a global firm, Deutsche Bank, for years before.

Yet, Waugh’s words were taken with a pinch of salt considering his earlier remarks on LIV Golf.

Seth Waugh claims LIV Golf’s USP is “flawed”

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Days before, the PGA CEO was talking with a leading sports house where he was cynical of the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Series. But what irked the 62-year-old the most about the league?

“Their logic about the team play being something significant that people can get behind I think is flawed,” Waugh told. “I don’t think people really care about it.” Furthermore, he claimed LIV Golf’s existing model wasn’t long-lasting, despite its endless flow of money.

“I don’t see how it’s a survivable business model. They can fund it for as long as they want to, but no matter how much money you have, at some point, burning it doesn’t feel very good. I don’t see they are accomplishing much. It seems logical to me, then, that you would work towards some sort of agreement. I hope the game comes back together in some form,” he said.

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Does Waugh’s latter statement come as a clarification message to turn down hostility surrounding LIV golfers’ participation at the PGA Championship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Written by:

Sharan Nair is a Senior Golf Writer at EssentiallySports. He constantly covers the ongoing PGA vs LIV Golf tussle as it progresses. With over 600 articles to his name, Sharan masters the sport with his in-depth knowledge and research that is reflected in his meticulous coverage of all the Majors.

Edited by:

Manaal Siddiqui

Just Days After Labelling LIV Golf ‘Flawed’ and Negating Its Identity, PGA CEO Backtracks His Sentiments Hours Before the 105th Championship

PGA America CEO backtracks on previous LIV Golf comments

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Seth Waugh claims LIV Golf’s USP is “flawed”