Major winner fires dig at LIV golfers at PGA Championship

There are 16 LIV golfers in this week’s PGA Championship. Half of them made the cut at Quail Hollow.

Bryson DeChambeau is once again leading the charge from the Saudi-backed league, trailing the unlikely leader Jhonattan Vegas by five shots after 36 holes in Charlotte.

Among the other contenders is Joaquin Niemann, the prolific LIV winner who has long faced questions about a dubious major record.

Niemann is yet to finish on in the top-ten in 22 major starts, but has the chance to make up for lost time this weekend after a resilient four-under 67 to sit seven back on an unheralded leaderboard.

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The Chilean has begun his third round on a weather-delayed Saturday, but was the man in the crosshairs on the course as one major champion took an unprompted dig at his breakaway tour.

As Niemann holed a putt, two-time US Open champion Curtis Strange had this description on ESPN:

“Five-time winner over there on the L-I-V tour, three times this year. And we don’t talk too much money up here, but each one of those carries a $4M first place. How about that? Hmm…”

Indeed, $4million is the first individual prize at LIV events (it’s worth nothing the same amount handed to winners of the lucrative Signature Events on the PGA Tour).

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Back in the summer of 2022, when players began joining LIV from the PGA Tour, Strange urged players to admit that they only reason they were making the move was for a huge payday.

“This is one of the biggest things to ever happen in a negative way to our game,” the 70-year-old told FoxNews.com

“It isn’t about not liking the tour. This isn’t about what the tour hasn’t done. It isn’t about I want to see my family more in a year. It is not about having more time to myself. These guys don’t play that much anyway.

“It’s all about this huge appearance money. And that’s it. That’s the bottom line.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.