Thomas Bjorn has urged a radical re-thinking of men's professional golf as crunch talks between the PGA Tour, investment consortiums and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) continue.
Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan are scheduled to meet for the latest round of crunch talks this week, while the Tour has also confirmed it will advance negotiations with the US-led investment consortium, Strategic Sports Group.
The Tour's self-imposed deadline of December 31 is fast approaching, but with the long-term future of the professional men's game at stake, Bjorn hopes that key stakeholders as well as current players don't get distracted by the here and now and, instead, look to pave the way for a successful product for years to come.
"The professional game should be the beaming light at the top of the pyramid of what golf is as a whole," Bjorn said speaking to Golf Monthly. "It’s the thing everybody looks up to and it should be the thing that drags golf in the right direction and, at the moment, it’s not.
"We’re spending a lot of time discussing internal problems in the game instead of positioning the game where it needs to be in an ever-changing world of sports. Everything is changing in sports and a game the size of golf, I don’t think it can afford an extended period of infighting.
"The opportunity is still there and it is on the people that make those decisions but also the players to capitalise on it. One thing that disappoints me the most is it seems like this generation of players – not anybody specific but a cultural thing in the game – are thinking too much about themselves and not what’s going to be there in the future.
"I don’t like that personally – that we are not caring too much about where the game is going to end up. I think that is the one thing we need to focus on. How do we create something sustainable, and relevant to the fans, sponsors and media partners. That’s something that needs a lot of work but it’s not working the way things are at the moment."
Any deal with PIF will likely involve a re-integration of LIV players back onto the PGA Tour. The long-term future of LIV's format may come into question but for Bjorn, it's clear that any deal not only needs to radically rethink golf's current structure but also ensure a global focus.
"I don’t necessarily think playing 42, 72-hole tournaments in a season is the right product but I certainly don’t think 48 players in a closed league is the answer either," he added.
"Golf is a global sport - that’s the one thing about LIV that I like. Golf needs to touch every corner of the world. Some of the greatest championships in the world – like the historic national opens in Australia and South Africa – don’t have the right place in the game right now as they should have. That needs to change."
Such high-stakes discussions come just days after Jon Rahm's big-money move to LIV Golf. Rahm, the defending Masters champion, became arguably the highest-profile name to join the 54-hole circuit last week after he penned a deal believed to be worth at least $300 million.
This year saw high-profile LIV star Brooks Koepka claim his fifth Major at the PGA Championship, while LIV Golfers have won four of the first five DP World Tour events to kickstart the 2024 season. And Bjorn believes Rahm can follow in their footsteps, continuing to contend in Majors while plying his trade on LIV.
"Jon was very vocal over the last year about where he thought everything was on LIV, the PGA Tour and I think that to some extent I’m still a bit surprised [with the move]," the 52-year-old ended.
"But I see him as a ten Major man in the future and I still do after this move. I think he’s one of the most exciting talents in the game.
"I’m very much of the opinion that, despite the fragmentation and fighting against each other, there is a huge opportunity for the game right now.
"And I think Jon to some extent feels that he can be at the centre of how the game can be structured for the future. And he was probably a bit frustrated as well that his opinion wasn’t heard as much."
Thomas Bjorn was speaking to Golf Monthly on behalf of BettingSites.co.uk.
