Viktor Hovland: PGA Tour to blame for LIV Golf exodus

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland has no queries as to why players are leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.

Jon Rahm was the latest, and biggest coup, for the Saudi-backed circuit, as the Spaniard signed a deal worth over £450 million.

And Hovland believes that Jay Monahan’s circuit can’t be surprised with the rate at which players are jumping ship.

The 26-year-old, who said he “really wasn’t that shocked” to see Rahm leave, told Discovery’s golf podcast ‘FORE’: “It would be a bit too silly to criticize the players for leaving.

“After all, you only hear one angle in the media, and there are quite a few different parts happening at the same time here.

“I totally understand why he left. That’s a lot, a lot of money. And at least when the management of the PGA tour has done such a bad job.”

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Hovland enjoyed the best season of his career in 2023, winning four times – including the Tour Championship.

The Norwegian was also part of Luke Donald’s winning European Ryder Cup team, but it has been off the course where Hovland has concerns.

“They almost see the players as labour, and not as part of the members. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing.

“When you then get to see what happens behind the doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players’ best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best… They are not professional golfers after all.

“They are businessmen who say that ‘no, it should look like this and that’. There is a great deal of arrogance behind it all. Then there are things that have to happen.”

In today’s fractured golf landscape, that means join LIV, and Rahm’s move is expected to open the floodgates for more marquee signings.

Hovland was heavily linked with a move before taking some pressure off the PGA Tour by committing to six events in early 2024.

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And it appears the rumours will have to move elsewhere.

When asked if we will see him on LIV anytime soon, Hovland said: “No, I doubt that.

“For my part… I don’t think their product is that great. I’m not such a fan of, for example, playing without a cut.

“You need the competition with 150 players and a cut. If you don’t play well enough, you’re out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper.

“If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer. And then it is, in a way, end of discussion.

“But I can’t blame people who make that decision and go over there. Then we have to try to find an arrangement in the end. We’ll see.”

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.