In lieu of the showstopping news drop that blindsided pro golf, its players and its fans, it\u2019s only natural to be left with a lot of emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The merger that NO ONE saw coming is professional golf\u2019s new reality, and the news dropped in the heat of major championship season. Just as we concluded the major championship that truly is ‘Open’ and belongs to everyone, I got the inside scoop from a player that qualified for LACC and played the weekend, finishing T-32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PGA Tour pro Dylan Wu<\/strong> is into the depths of his second season on the PGA Tour, but as he searches for his first win on Tour not everything is given to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a proper exemption status, he found himself in the U.S. Open sectional qualifying and managed to get through the 36 hole grind just to reserve his place in the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had been through a lot on that (36 hole) day, and just let out more emotion than normal cause I had been playing well and knew what the opportunity meant\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next morning, the news came down of the PGA Tour + PIF merger that rocked the game. Let\u2019s walk through the range of emotions from a tour pro that was in the players only meeting at the Canadian Open:<\/p>\n\n\n\n ANGER<\/strong> \u201cIt was the biggest player meeting I\u2019ve ever been to\u2026over 120 players and a lot of very very angry players, I don\u2019t think anybody was happy in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it\u2019s been hinted at in recent weeks, the players on the PGA Tour that stayed loyal feel like they just got played. Lack of faith in their leader seemed to resonate with Wu as he left the meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlayers have lost a lot of trust not only in Jay (Monahan) but the higher ups of the PGA Tour. They say we\u2019re a player-run organization but it doesn\u2019t feel like the players have a say at all\u2026They say \u2018we give players a say\u2019 and that they have a player advisory council\u2026that\u2019s the biggest crap ever.\u201d After the initial onslaught of anger subsided, confusion set in as the merger went directly against everything the PGA Tour said and did in the face of LIV Golf and its higher ups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As for Wu\u2019s first thought on the reversal, \u201cSurprising is an understatement\u2026mainly because the Tour has had such a strong stance against LIV the past two years, and both tours seemed to be co-existing as best as they could recently.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, players are left with more questions than ever, most of which cannot be answered by any member of the merger deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of questions not answered\u2026(like) how much is the Public Investment Fund going to invest in PGA Tour?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wu also spun a famous line from Jay Monahan the other way now that the Tour was accepting the Saudi money they denied taking so vehemently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShould we now be apologizing for playing on the PGA Tour?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there was a word to describe the tenor of the infamous players only meeting hours after the news broke, it\u2019s undoubtedly anger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONFUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n