‘The LIV Tour Ain’t Changing a Thing’: Fred Couples Rips Players for Claiming LIV Is Good for Golf
Fred Couples has no problem with Jon Rahm becoming the latest player to go to LIV Golf.
But he’s not good with the idea that money isn’t the central issue, and that Rahm and others have made the move to the LIV Golf league because they like the product, which includes 54-hole events and shotgun starts.
Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, officially joined LIV Golf last Thursday and is expected to captain his own team.
Rahm had been consistent in saying he didn’t like the product and wouldn’t jump ship solely for money, but he admitted that the LIV offer—well into nine figures—was enticing.
Couples continues to be a critic of LIV Golf.
USA Today
“[For] $100 million doesn’t get it. $200 million doesn’t get it. $300 million doesn’t get it,’’ Couples said on his Sirius XM radio program The Fred Couples Show. “But for $400 (million)? It’s a great product and it’s a great show … my ass.’’
Couples noted the rumors about Tony Finau—who on Monday announced he is staying on the PGA Tour—and said, “Tell me the next guy—if it is Tony Finau—say “I am going for free boys!” Couples said. [What if they say] “'I love this tour, I don’t like the PGA Tour anymore’? No one is going to say that. So what does that tell me? It tells me it is about the money, which is fine.
“But don’t sit there and go on and say they are changing the game. For 50 years, golf has been changed. Arnold Palmer changed it. Jack Nicklaus changed it. Tiger Woods changed it. The LIV tour ain’t changing a thing.”
Couples has been critical of LIV Golf in the past, including earlier this year when he criticized Phil Mickelson, who was one of the first to sign with LIV Golf in 2022.
LIV Golf’s 2024 schedule will begin in February. Meanwhile, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which backs LIV Golf—is in discussions with the PGA Tour and DP World to come to an agreement that would brings the sides together.