Patrick Cantlay has distanced himself from rumours linking him with LIV Golf over the winter, insisting that he has always been committed to the PGA Tour… although he didn’t close the door entirely on the Saudi backed organisation, praising it in the process.
Cantlay was heavily linked with LIV Golf in recent months alongside Xander Schauffele and Thomas Pieters and the world number four admits the links have probably surfaced as a result of his silence on the subject.
“I think it’s because I haven’t been too vocal one way or the other. So I think that’s probably where it is. Guys, for the most part, seem like they’re pretty polarised on this issue, and I view it as it’s been a competition for top talent, like any other business.
“But I have no plans to do that as of now, which has been my stance basically since the whole time.
“I don’t see a lot of it or hear a lot of it. When I come up here, I’ll get questions about it, but for the most part that’s it. So it’s not surprising, I guess, because I’ve been asked the questions a few times, but it does give me a little chuckle because my stance has been pretty much the same for a while now.”
Cantlay didn’t completely write off joining LIV Golf in the future, however, as he lauded Greg Norman’s product by taking a very popular LIV phrase that competition is good for the game.
“I think that it’s been interesting how much it’s changed golf, as in, like, everyone’s trying to innovate and make golf better all of a sudden,” he added. “I think that will be a massive benefit for the viewer because I think now more than ever, competition is making people evolve and making people grow and think outside the box.
“So I think it’s been really good and will be good for professional golf in the long run. But it’s been such a polarising issue that it’s made people, you know, feel emotional about something that has been the same for such a long time.
“I think competition is always necessary for improvement. I just think that in general, like I’ve said before, that it’s been such a polarising issue and in the future, we may look back and think that it’s not as polarising as it’s been when you’re in the heat of the moment.
“So I’m as interested as all of you to see where it goes and then looking back, I hope that it brings about some positive change in the game of golf. And I think with more attention and more excitement, it potentially can do that.”
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