Much of Pro Golf's Rhetoric and Divisiveness Heated Up Two Years Ago During the Genesis Invitational

LOS ANGELES — Professional golf remains in the midst of upheaval, with the PGA Tour changing its business model and taking on private equity, the LIV Golf League soldiering forward with its rival circuit and no indication when—or if—the two sides might come together in peace.

A good bit has happened in two years, but a lot of the momentum—or at the time, lack thereof—occurred during the week of the Genesis Invitational in 2022.

It’s when the Alan Shipnuck bombshell book excerpt dropped about Phil Mickelson. When players such as Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau declared their loyalty to the PGA Tour. When Rory McIlroy said he believed LIV Golf was “dead in the water.”

And when tournament host Tiger Woods—barely a year following his nearby car crash—downplayed the idea of playing in the Masters.

Among the highlights from that week:

> Woods was making his first appearance at Riviera Country Club as tournament host. Nearly one year earlier to the day was when he was driving to a nearby course for a promotional event when his SUV crashed and flipped, severely damaging his lower right left, ankle and foot.

The idea of a comeback seemed far away.

“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again; I want to know,” Woods said. “But I don’t. My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well. And hit short irons very well. But I haven’t hit any long stuff seriously.

“I’m still working on the walking part. My foot was a little messed up there a year ago. My walking I’m still working on. Getting strength back. It takes time. What’s frustrating is my timetable. I want to be at a certain place and I’m not. I’m getting better, yes. But not at the speed I would like. It’s frustrating.”

And: “To play six rounds, pre-tournament practice, four competitive days … it’s the cumulative effect of all that. I’m still working to get to that point.”

Six weeks later, Woods competed at the Masters, and made the 36-hole cut.

> Mickelson, who previously had announced a leave from the game following disparaging remarks he made about the PGA Tour that were reported by Golf Digest, was again the center of attention even though he was not at Riviera.

Shipnuck dropped an excerpt for his biography about Mickelson from an interview conducted for the book. And it shook up the golf world and, for a time, put LIV Golf in retreat mode.

“This is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape how the PGA Tour operates,” he said. “They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics but we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I’m not sure I even want (the new league) to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the (PGA) Tour.”

> Several players which had been linked to LIV Golf came under pressure to renounce the new endeavor. Among some who did were Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka. Over the weekend, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau issued statements.

“Over the past several months, there has been a great deal of speculation about an alternative tour; much of which seems to have included me and my future in professional golf,” Johnson wrote in a statement posted on his behalf by the PGA Tour. “I feel it’s now time to put such speculation to rest. I am fully committed to the PGA Tour.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to play the best tour in the world and for all it has provided me and my family. While there will always be areas where our Tour can improve and evolve, I am thankful for our leadership and the many sponsors who make the PGA Tour golf’s premier tour.”

DeChambeau’s statement came later in the day: “While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I. As of now, I am focused on getting myself healthy and competing again soon. I appreciate the support.”

> Speaking after the final round, McIlroy didn’t hold back on Mickelson.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said. “A lot of words to describe that interaction he had with Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

Later, McIlroy said he believed that LIV Golf was “dead in the water” because “who is left?”

> A month later at the Players Championship, Monahan said the Tour was “moving on.”

> A week later, LIV Golf announced a revised plan to have an “invitational series” of eight events and that its schedule would start in June outside of London.

And it has since gone on to play 24 tournaments, with a new slew of signings and plans to play into 2025 and beyond, with 25 of the players who were in the Genesis field two years ago now playing for LIV Golf, including Johnson and DeChambeau.

A deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which funds LIV Golf—remains in negotiations.