'P****s me off' - Rocco Mediate angered by LIV Golf 11's decision to sue PGA Tour over suspensions
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Updated 01/09/2022 at 15:01 GMT
LIV Golf continues to command headlines, with the latest twist being the decision by the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Ian Poulter to file a lawsuit against the PGA Tour. PGA Tour veteran Rocco Mediate has no issues with the players jumping ship for big money, but says once they are gone they cannot come back.
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Rocco Mediate has added his voice to those criticising the LIV Golf 11 who have launched a lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
Phil Mickelson and 10 others have filed a lawsuit claiming their suspensions from the PGA Tour were damaging their careers.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan handed down the suspensions after the players signed huge contracts to jump ship to LIV Golf.
Those who remain loyal to the PGA Tour have voiced their displeasure with the decision to file the lawsuit.
Mediate is not fazed by players leaving for LIV, and can understand why heads have been turned by the huge sums of money on offer, but is upset that they left only to now take the case to court in a bid to play on the PGA Tour as well.
"So if you were to have your - I don’t know what kind of tour you would call that tour - go ahead. Go ahead and have it,” Mediate, arguably most famous for losing a play-off to Tiger Woods at the 2008 US Open, said on the Starter with Taylor Zarzour show on SiriusXM radio. “Just don’t try and destroy what made you. That’s what p****s me off to no end.”
Greg Norman is the figurehead of LIV Golf, and Mediate is angry about the Australian biting the hand that fed him so well as a player.
“The PGA Tour made Greg Norman, plain and simple,” Mediate said. “If it wasn’t for the PGA Tour, you would never have heard of him. Now that’s no good? I don’t get it. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t think I am.”
Mediate turned his cannons in the direction of Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Hudson Swafford, Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, Ian Poulter, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak and Peter Uihlein for filing the lawsuit.
“I hope whoever’s doing this realises how silly this is becoming,” Mediate, now a regular on the Champions Tour, said. “I mean if our Tour was no good and you left, what do you want to come back for? I don’t understand.
“If you don’t want to play on our Tour, leave. You can go anytime you want; they’re not stopping them. You just can’t come back. And that’s how it should be.
“The PGA Tour is a pure competition, the place to hang out, it’s as pure as it gets. And it’s been that way for however many years, for a zillion years. That’s how I think it’s going to stay.
“People will realise what’s going on. And like I said, there’s nothing wrong with taking the money. Just tell me you’re taking the money and tell the PGA Tour, thank you for giving me a place to go, a place to become what I’ve become and get offered this ridiculous amount of money to go play golf.
“Just say thank you and leave, that’s all. It really isn’t that hard."
There have been three LIV events so far, with the winners receiving $4 million. The fourth event takes place Boston at the start of September.
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