Patrick Cantlay: LIV Golf was “inevitable”

Patrick Cantlay has “no plans” to move to LIV Golf – but claimed the rebel tour’s arrival in the pro game was “inevitable”.

Golf has been divided over the last year after the Saudi-funded circuit emerged on the scene, with several top players jumping ship.

Despite being linked on several occasions with a move, Cantlay is staying put and is now a member of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council.

But in an interview with GOLF.com’s Drop Zone podcast, he gave his verdict on the breakaway tour.

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“I have no plans to go to LIV and haven’t for a while, and that’s been my stance,” Cantlay said. “I think it’s funny when people say ‘chaotic’ about how golf has been. I understand exactly why you would say that but I think that’s very relative. If you look at other sports, they are way more chaotic than golf.

“Golf, the last 30 years have been extremely stable. The last two have been unstable and compared to where it was, extremely unstable with 20 or so of the top 50 guys in the world going to another tour.

“From that point of view it has been chaotic. But MLB baseball has gone on strike nine times in the last 30 years, other sports have gone through similar things and golf’s never had a strike.

“I just think it was inevitable that after so much time and consistency of no disruption, eventually a disruptor was going to come about and that seems to be LIV.”

Despite nailing his colours to the PGA Tour mast, Cantlay revealed he had “weighed up” the pros and cons over a potential switch.

“I’ve thought about it quite a lot,” he said. “It’s important to be informed and to weigh the options you have. Yes, we’re professional golfers who grew up wanting to play on the PGA Tour and win majors.

“On the other side of the coin we are running a really small business as professional golfers, so staying informed and weighing the pros and cons on both sides considering that no golfer in the last 30 years has had to weigh those is an important exercise we’ve had to go through.

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“The world ranking situation and no majors would be major cons on the LIV side, as well as doing something new which is not traditional and uncertain. The pros are it seems like more money, they play seemingly less tournaments and less rounds so it’s less work, or from the outside it seems like it.

“The pros on the PGA Tour side are pretty numerous. There’s lots of history and tournaments you grew up thinking you’d like to win, venues you’d like to win at, playing Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups. The PGA Tour is seemingly willing to evolve and change for the better and really try and take this head on. I hope they do and that means all the best players getting together more often for more money. That’s good news for the viewers at home.

“I think even if you ask some of the guys who have gone, it’s hard to imagine not playing on the PGA Tour and that’s because everyone grows up imagining playing on the PGA Tour. You grow up wanting to be like those guys.”