'It Doesn’t Look Like A Sport Anymore; It Looks More Like A Business' - LIV Golf Critic Lorenzo-Vera Voices Frustrations
Mike Lorenzo-Vera says modern golf is too much of a business and is in danger of forgetting the history and tradition of the sport
One of LIV Golf's fiercest critics, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, has voiced his concern that golf is too much of a business and is losing it's touch with the history of the sport.
The Frenchman, who also explained his anger towards the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter joining LIV Golf, says he's nostalgic about some of the older events on the then European Tour.
With the vast sums of money being thrown around recently as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf do battle, Lorenzo-Vera says: "I think there’s a lot of bulls*** about what apparently works now."
The 38-year-old feels the modern game in general over the last few years is heading too much towards a money grab and getting away from the history, tradition and values of the sport.
"It doesn’t look like a sport anymore; it looks more like a business," Lorenzo-Vera told The Scotsman's Martin Dempster.
"Plenty of guys are making business decisions in golf now and I think it’s a very American way to see it.
“It feels like the historical part of the game has gone a bit. Maybe it’s because of a change of generation as well."
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Lorenzo-Vera also explained that his initial anger towards the likes of Westwood, Poulter and Sergio Garcia after their acrimonious split from the DP World Tour was due to them being players he looked up to.
"I was angry at guys like Lee [Westwood], Sergio [Garcia] and Ian Poulter for going to LIV Golf because they had been my idols," he added. "At the end of the day, we need idols and guys who build golf through the years and I think this is what is now missing a bit.”
And with LIV Golf, PGA Tour Signature Events and other new initiatives handing out huge sums of money, Lorenzo-Vera is not a fan of some new ways of thinking in golf.
“There’s a new way of seeing things, which I’m not a super fan of, to be honest," he said. "I think there’s a lot of bulls*** about what apparently works now. But, at the end of the day, we have kids to feed and we have to adapt and play good golf.”
A fan of golfing history, Lorenzo-Vera says he loved some of the old European Tour events even if he accepts modern players and modern golf has to adapt.
“I’m nostalgic about the European Tour as it was,” he said. “It’s a new product we have now and I think the players have to adapt to that. Now I think the guys are building a new part of history with all the LIV stuff and all the talk of a global tour.
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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