In the battle between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, many of the world’s top golfers have made it clear which side they are on. One golfer who appears to be playing his cards close to his chest is Rickie Fowler.
While Fowler has made some big changes recently in order to recapture his former glory, he has remained adamant that he’s keeping his options open about which tour he’ll play for in the future.
“I haven’t necessarily made a decision one way or the other,” Fowler said in May. “I’ve mentioned in the past, do I currently think that the PGA Tour is the best place to play? I do. Do I think it can be better? Yes.”
Fowler has spent a lot of the last few years slumping and having trouble making cuts at PGA events, leading some to wonder if he’d appreciate the no-cut LIV Golf style, not to mention the guaranteed income. However, he’s also earned $41 million in his career on top of his many endorsements, so it’s not as though he’s hurting for money.
Golfweek’s Adam Shupak asked Fowler about his plans recently and it now sounds like he’s sticking with the PGA Tour, at least for the moment.
“This is where I plan to be,” said Fowler. “I would say there is stuff in the works now as far as the things the Tour is trying to do to evolve with kind of modernizing and I feel like they are making the right steps now.”
That said, he did express an appreciation for the way that LIV could be opening up golf to new audiences.
“It may bring potentially new audiences in just because it’s different. At the same time, it’s not what golf has always been,” he said. “If there was a perfect world there would be a way to coexist because to me they are very different things.”
We’ll see if Fowler follows in the footsteps of the many other golfers who have taken the money and ran or if he’s going to stick it out with the PGA Tour for the long haul.
[Golfweek]
