Jon Rahm LIV defection beneficiary particulars “slap in the face”

Mackenzie Hughes is teeing it up this week at The Sentry, the 2024 PGA Tour season opener. It has been designated as one of many eight Signature Events for this yr.

There is a bigger purse, a smaller area and can reward extra FedEx Cup factors.

The solely purpose Hughes shall be within the area is as a result of Jon Rahm ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. That transfer vaulted Hughes up one spot within the ultimate 2023 FedEx Cup standings to fiftieth, incomes him exemption into the eight Signature Events this yr.

He is grateful for that chance, and can gladly take it. Yet, he seems to have grow to be a disgruntled PGA Tour veteran and let his frustration stream Tuesday from Kapalua, Hawaii, the positioning of The Sentry.

“All these guys going to LIV have made it fairly clear that it’s all about cash… so to me that’s disappointing.

“But now that I’m qualified for these events, I mean, obviously it would be silly for me not to play in these events. They are great opportunities. But, like, I just don’t think it’s right,” Hughes stated.

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images

He then turned his ire to the PGA Tour.

“2019 was all about golf, you know? Our economic model was sustainable. The LIV threat came along and all of a sudden we started to double the purses, and we’re asking sponsors to double their investment, and we’re giving them the same product.”

Hughes is a member of the PAC (Player Advisory Council) that consults with the PGA Tour Policy Board on issues associated to the tour. Yet, they had been left at midnight or caught off guard quite a few instances.

That included the notorious ‘players only meeting’ in Delaware in 2022.

“I feel that undoubtedly instructed me whose opinion mattered. I imply, there was 70 PGA TOUR gamers there and so they thought solely 25 or 30 of them had been adequate for that assembly? Bit of a slap within the face.

“You got 70 of the best players on the PGA TOUR that season, and you’re going to tell me I can’t sit in that meeting and at least listen? You can just put me in the back and say, Hey, Mac, don’t speak, but you can at least listen to what we’re saying. It was like this closed doors meeting for the who’s who of the TOUR,” Hughes stated passionately.

The 33-year-old Canadian even tried placing issues into perspective of the followers.

“Fans additionally, I feel, are left questioning, like, do guys even love enjoying golf anymore, or are all of them simply involved about cash.

“The fan just wants to watch golf. I think you watch sports for an escape from other nonsense, but I think golf has brought a lot of nonsense onto its plate, and now you don’t get just golf, you get a lot of other stuff going on. It’s a bit of a circus.”

It’s simple to know the place Hughes is coming from. He touched on plenty of instances the place the PAC and the Policy Board met to debate one thing with out an finish outcome, solely to seek out out within the information the Tour had determined to go forward anyway.

Like so many others, he’s hoping for golf to return collectively once more. But additionally like so many, how that may probably occur given the present state of the game is a thriller.

Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For extra golf protection, observe us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms.