The hand wringing down in Ponte Vedra by the likes of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Tiger “Crash” Woods, appears to be about as phony as the golf behemoth’s non-profit status.
Bubba Watson let the cat out of the bag when he was asked about the criticism lobbed at LIV Golf for its guaranteed deals.
“It makes me laugh because on the PGA Tour I got paid behind closed doors to show up at tournaments,” said Watson during the season finale in Miami at Trump National Doral.
He emphasized, “Many tournaments!”
According to the two-time Masters winner, tour stars have been getting compensated for what amounts to appearance fees, even though they are illegal on the tour.
“And if Bubba Watson’s not the best that means the best were getting paid better than me and more than me,” Watson continued.
“And so it’s guaranteed money – I miss the cut, I still make money. I make the cut, I make extra money. And so you know, I laugh because we all had some guaranteed money to show up at places – win, lose, quit, whatever, you still got the money.
“So we’ve all been doing that. We’ve all been playing for guaranteed money. And so the critics – it just makes me laugh because thats what we’re doing. You know, we don’t want to talk about in on tour but we are getting it.”
Thanks… Yes, intend to.
-Jeff