"How About A Thank You?" - Rocco Mediate Roasts LIV Golfers

Angry PGA Tour veteran Rocco Mediate says LIV golfers should take the money but also show some respect to the PGA Tour

Rocco Mediate smokes a cigar on the golf course
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
By Paul Higham
published

Rocco Mediate has launched a stinging criticism of some LIV Golf stars for their lack of gratitude and anger towards the PGA Tour, saying they should take their new wealth, “don’t be a d***” and say thank you.

The 59-year-old joined Garret Johnson on his Beyond The Clubhouse podcast and had no problem voicing his frustrations at the attitude of some players who have joined LIV Golf.

That includes the man behind the Saudi-backed venture Greg Norman, who recently said his new stars felt “liberated” by leaving the PGA Tour.

Mediate says the Australian owes everything to the PGA Tour, as do all his other LIV Golf stars, and the attitude they’ve shown towards the Tour has riled the veteran.

“What’s going on now, it kind of p***** you off the way guys talk about what gave them everything that they have,” said Mediate.

“Think about Greg Norman, everything he has came because he played on the PGA Tour, and what, that wasn’t that good enough? What would you have been without it?

“There was no other platform, and there still isn’t now - 54 holes in shorts, whoop de doo.”

Mediate does not blame anyone for cashing in and joining LIV, but he’s adamant that if he joined he’d show some respect towards the PGA Tour.

“Of course it’d be great to make the money, I don’t blame them at all. They’ve been going to Saudi Arabia for a million years for appearance money, that’s not even an issue. But do it the right way, how about a thank you?

*Warning, the below video contains some strong language..

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“You know what, if they called me and said they wanted an old guy on the LIV Tour, I’d say ‘yeah that’d be cool, and I want to thank the PGA Tour for giving me everything that I have, but I’m done now'.

"I’m going to go away quietly, I’m going to hang out for a couple of years and then I’m out.

“That’s how you do it, you don’t be a d***, because you’re already being paid way more than you ever earned.

“The one thing we do out here (PGA Tour) is you earn it, they don’t hand it to you – it’s how it always was.”

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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