There’s no love lost between LIV Golf players and the PGA Tour golfers they left behind.
There’s also plenty of hate, according to one of the LIV defectors.
24-year-old Chilean golfer Joaquin Niemann told GOLF.com that he and his fellow LIV golfers are fired up to win the 2023 Masters in part because of how their PGA Tour brethren feel about them.
“I think it’s going to be more fun knowing that they hate us,” Niemann said. “Then go to the majors and beat them.”
Niemann is one of 17 LIV players at the Masters this year and he is hoping that they can put on a good show and prove that they stand toe-to-toe with the PGA’s best. And the fact that LIV Golf focuses on team events isn’t going to hamper them.
“Obviously, it’s going to be an individual tournament, not a team (event),” he said. “But we’re going to be feeling it, with the different players playing at the same time for their tour.”
While some have tried to downplay the rivalry between the two tours, Niemann thinks that’s going to be part of the fun.
“I think there is a big rivalry right now between the Tour and LIV,” Niemann said. “I think there is a lot of players that — I don’t know if they don’t like us or they don’t like the decisions that we take — but it’s going to be fun.
“Since they gave us the notice that we’re going to be able to play the majors, I was like, it’s going to be so much fun those four weeks,” he said. “Four weeks in the year against them, and try to beat them.”
[Golf.com]
