“That seems so contrived to me” – Peter Malnati criticizes LIV Golf team format as ‘forced’
Peter Malnati’s win at the 2024 Valspar Championship ended his 9-year winless drought. Just a week before he took his win, Malnati had openly criticised the LIV Golf series at the Players Championship.
Malnati is one of the player directors alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, and is working with the PGA Tour Enterprises. In a Players Championship conference, Peter Malnati said via BroBible:
“I don’t know what they’re doing, but it seems like a very forced team model, to me. When, at the end of the day, are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? I don’t know what fans of LIV want or care about, but are there any fans that care about who won it? I mean, that seems so contrived to me.”
Peter Malnati also said that the communication between the LIV Golf Series and PGA Tour has not been clear. He felt that the ideas, format and the future of golf need to be talked about more amongst fans, players and officials.
Peter Malnati talks about the importance of full field tournaments on the PGA Tour
Creating awareness and increasing inclusivity in the world of golf is something that is being stressed on as a future goal for the PGA Tour. After picking up his win at the Valspar Championship, Peter Malnati spoke about the importance of community creation.
“We don’t have tournaments to play in if we don’t have communities that think these tournaments matter, and if we don’t have host organizations like the Copperheads and, you know, several other amazing host organizations around the country, we don’t have a PGA Tour,” he said (via SportsRush).
With the creation of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has increased prize money for several events and also created elevated events with more exclusive fields. However, tournaments such as Valspar Championship have increased their field sizes to increase playing exposure for young golfers.
The PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian PIF are also in talks about the future of PGA Tour Enterprises. The framework agreement between the two has been in the works for quite some time now, and is expected to be completed ahead of the 2024 Masters.
