It was June 6, 2023. When no one expected it, in the midst of such secrecy that not even the players found out until the public statement, the American circuits (PGA Tour), European circuits (DP World Tour) and the Investment Fund Saudi Public (PIF), the body that regulates the groundbreaking LIV League, announced a peace agreement to end the civil war that has split the sport in two for years and to create a great world circuit with all the stars. More than a year has passed since then and peace, nothing at all. The conversations continue, the meetings continue, intermediate to Tiger Woods as host… and nothing. The two parties meanwhile move their pieces on the large chess board. LIV broke the bank by convincing Jon Rahm with the juiciest contract ever signed by a Spanish athlete, about 500 million dollars for erasing his words and changing his shirt; It was at the end of December and a few days later the PGA Tour counterattacked with an alliance with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of investors that will inject 3,000 million into its coffers.
In the crossfire, world figures compete separated by an ocean. LIV golfers get ready for their three-day competitions without a cut and with background music: Rahm, Cameron Smith, Sergio García, DeChambeau, Koepka… The faithful to the PGA Tour continue along the traditional path, although richer than ever because money is fought with money and the American circuit has raised the financial prizes to the sky: Scheffler, McIlroy, Schauffele… That is the panorama of current golf, a sport with more health and muscle than ever, but also more divided than in other times. And in that scenario, the big four of the season are the only catwalk in which the best in the world coincide. With some friction involved, as Jon Rahm admitted at the last Augusta Masters after his departure to the enemy: “Someone won’t look me in the face.”
The US Open that was held this past week was another chapter in this war. With a final battle worthy of the prestige of the tournament, the check at stake, the highest in the history of the majors (4.3 million for the winner) and the symbolism represented by the duel between Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. The 30-year-old American is a LIV man, surely the one who has performed best in the majors among his training colleagues. The Northern Irishman, 35, has been the great banner of the PGA in the conflict, a speaker who over time has lowered his decibels to try, like Rahm, to find a meeting point. At Pinehurst not only a cup was at stake, but a symbolic victory for one side or the other in these times of negotiations. The game in the offices is as tough as in the green.
DeChambeau won (-6), he won the Saudi League, and the defeat could not have been more dramatic for Rory McIlroy (-5). The European committed three bogeys in the last four holes failing on the way two putts of one and a half meters, and throwing away the option of winning his fifth major 10 years after the last one (since then he has collected 21 places in the top 10 in the biggest events). For DeChambeau it was his second major, his second US Open, and the second great laurel that a LIV golfer has won after Koepka’s PGA in 2023. Curious: the new American hero defeated the local team and celebrated, pointing to the sky, with a tribute to the legendary Payne Stewart. Glory for the scientist who weighs and measures every aspect of the game as if it were mathematics and drama for Rory, who was already on the plane while the champion attended the press. Sergio García was 12th with +1, his best position in a major since his 2017 Masters, and David Puig dropped to 55th place with +11 but with the Olympic ticket. The two Spaniards are teammates in LIV, the other winner of this US Open.
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