Lucas Glover has shifted his stance on LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour, previously voicing strong opinions on the matter. As a seasoned PGA Tour player with six wins, Glover's perspective is significant in the ongoing discussion about LIV Golf's impact.
Key points
Lucas Glover has changed his opinion on LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour.
He has made 574 career starts on the PGA Tour.
Glover has recorded six PGA Tour wins.
He is considered an experienced player on the tour.
Glover has benefitted from LIV Golf's inception.
Mentioned in this story
Lucas GloverPGA TourLIV Golf
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Lucas Glover has often aired his opinion about the possibility of LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour.
Glover is one of the more experienced players on the PGA Tour, having made 574 career starts.
The 46-year-old has recorded six PGA Tour wins throughout his career and he is definitely someone who has benefitted from LIV Golf’s inception.
As a result of LIV Golf being established and poaching some of the PGA Tour‘s biggest names, Glover rose in the world rankings and gained improved status.
Glover took full advantage of the rise in tournament purses, winning the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in back-to-back weeks in 2023.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR
He has always been outspoken about his opinion of the players who left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.
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“I don’t want to play with them, me personally,“ Glover insisted.
*“*I don’t think they should be back here, I don’t want them here. They made their decision, and I don’t blame any of them. I don’t care, but they also went away from this tour, and they chose to.
*“*As a PGA Tour player, and somebody who dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour, and have poured my heart and soul into this tour and game for 21 seasons now, I don’t want somebody who chose another path – a path of less resistance, I don’t want them back competing and taking part of my pie and these kids’ pie who are trying to make it now. I don’t want that.
*“*We as golf fans, yeah, the top four, five six players over there, if they were playing on the PGA Tour it would benefit all of us, because our TV deal in 2030 would be great.
Photo by Amy Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Amy Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images
*“*That’s the big question now in my opinion is; does it behove us as tour members who have equity now to grow our sport by bringing some of those guys back?
*“*I’m having a hard time with it and I got some good advice from somebody who’s had the same issues as me, you’ve got to take emotion out of it, but it’s still very hard for me. This is still my dream and I chose to stay, and after I chose to stay I had success.
*“*As far as a stalemate goes, ‘we’ being the PGA Tour, I don’t think we even care anymore, we’re focused on going forward. They’re not coming away from the team thing, and that’s fine. Our focus now is forward, forward, forward. We’re going to grow our sport, and grow our tour.
“All that being said, I don’t think we care anymore about this unification and I don’t think they do either. That’s fine with me but it’s also kind of shortsighted of me, because if five, six, seven, eight of them still move the needle for the public, that would help us grow even bigger.“
However, he appears to have taken a step back now…
Lucas Glover changes his tune on LIV golfers returning to the PGA Tour
Glover was asked in Miami on Thursday where he stands on the possibility of LIV Golf players returning to the PGA Tour.
“Well, first of all, it’s not up to me,“ Glover started off by saying.
*“*Second of all, whatever the TOUR decides is whatever they decide. I’ll support that. Like I said, there’s been pathways back, there still are, I don’t know if they will change. I don’t know. I think we’re very much in the infancy of all this and just yeah, I’m not privy to that information at this point.
*“*I mean, human beings are human beings. I kind of live by that, you treat everybody the same until they give you a reason not to. So, yeah, I have respect for people and golfers because they’re people first and my peers second. I will never begrudge anybody for making a decision for the betterment of their career, their life, whatever that may be. But do I think they should abide by the pathways back and pay the same penalties that the previous people have paid, absolutely.
Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images
Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images
He was then asked whether he will have a say on the matter, given that he is now on the players’ committee.
*“*Yeah, I don’t know,” he admitted.
*“*I don’t know how that, I don’t know — for instance, when the whole Brooks thing came down I don’t know if that was a player decision, if they were — I don’t know.
“Again, I’m very new to this side of it too. If the news is absolutely true and they don’t continue or guys start trying to jump back, they’re going to have to make that decision a lot quicker than I’m going to be on there.“
Talk about a complete U-turn. Glover clearly feels very differently about LIV players coming back to the PGA Tour now.
A cynic would say that is the stance he has been told to take by the higher ups, because Glover isn’t usually a man to back down on his principles.
