'The Money, Believe Me, Was Insane' - Gary McCord Reveals Why He Turned Down LIV Golf

In 2019, after 33 years as a part of CBS' golf broadcasting team, memorable course reporter Gary McCord did not have his contract renewed and was left wondering what he might do next at the age of 71.

Three years later, the invention of the LIV Golf League offered McCord the chance of making a triumphant return to the commentary scene alongside his long-time friend and former colleague David Feherty, but he declined, despite the "insane" finances involved. 

Feherty would go on to sign for LIV - citing the significant pay check as one of the key reasons he made the switch from NBC Sports - but McCord chose not to follow.

Explaining his thought process at the time to Golf.com's 'Subpar' podcast, McCord said: “The last conversation I had with [LIV CEO Greg] Norman was, ‘Greg, I’m 75, I don’t want to go to Adelaide, I don’t want to go to Hong Kong, I don’t want to go to Riyadh, I can’t do it.

“I was going to go and then, the money, believe me, was insane,” he said. “Greg never told me what I’d be, but I had to ask Feherty, ‘Let me ask what you are making?’ And I went, ‘What did you say?!’,” McCord said. “I never told anybody. To this day I never told anybody. But that was interesting.”

McCord did admit, however, that if the golf broadcasting landscape had looked slightly different at the time then he may well have put pen to paper with LIV.

“What the future is going to be anyway, all golf shows are going to have their broadcast team going to a studio somewhere in the United States,” he said.

“Every week it’s going to be there and you put two people on the ground, someone to do interviews, they will not know I’m in a studio in Dallas, Texas, with the two other guys talking. Put a backdrop of the 18th hole there, they will never know.”

Heading into the 2024 season, LIV Golf's broadcasting team consists of Arlo White and Feherty alongside Jerry Foltz, Su-Ann Heng, Troy Mullins, and Dom Boulet.