Morning Read Mailbag: Readers Sound Off on England's Best Golfers (And, Of Course, More LIV Talk)
Readers are welcome to offer their thoughts on Morning Read stories or anything else from the world of golf. Email inbox@morningread.com and include your name and hometown. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
It's the Shotguns, Not 54 Holes
You missed the major issue with LIV’s format ("LIV Golf Prides Itself On 54-Hole Events, to Ridicule From Some. But Is That Fair?" Sept. 15). Shotgun finishes take away from the pressure of playing on the final day knowing what you need to shoot in order to win.
Bill Witzofsky
St. Louis, Missouri
LIV-PGA Tour Match or No Match?
NO, NO, NO! ("Forget the Presidents Cup, How About LIV Golf vs. the PGA Tour in Match Play?" Sept. 13). That would legitimize blood money, women bashing, selective assassinations and worse of all Greg Norman. Leave them out in “left field” playing exhibition golf!
Chuck Miller
Denton, Texas
More Candidates for England's Best
Re: Gary Van Sickle's list of the greatest English golfers ("Nick Faldo, Ian Poulter, Laura Davies and a King: Ranking Golf's Best From England," Sept. 12), many would regard Henry Cotton as one of the greatest, if not the greatest. He isn't mentioned in your list. Harry Vardon, who is mentioned as the top English golfer, was from Jersey, so not English.
Surely Cecil Leitch and Joyce Wethered, regarded by Bobby Jones as two of the greatest lady golfers—albeit amateurs—should be on your list.
George Fletcher
Edinburgh, Scotland
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In my humble view the best English golfer of all time is a woman, by the name of Joyce Wethered, later Lady Heathcote-Amery. My rating is based on the high esteem by Robert (Bobby) T. Jones, who called her he finest golfer he ever met. Perhaps she may be forgotten to younger golfers as her playing prime was about 100 years ago.
Ulric Thiede
Hamburg, Germany
Turning Off the Television
First of all, I enjoy your daily emails so keep up the good work. (Editor's note: Visit si.com/newsletters and sign up for the free daily emails!)
Unfortunately due to LIV, I (and I am sure many others) am rapidly losing my interest in watching golf. I think LIV is a joke: no cuts, shotgun starts, music playing and a bunch of has-beens making obscene amounts of money. While in some ways I can't blame them for taking the cash, I have no sympathy for any of them, like they don't have the chance to make a darn good living already? At least Harold Varner was honest. Talor Gooch saying winning a LIV tournament was like winning the Ryder Cup? Really?
Kudos to Rory and others for taking a stand for the integrity of the game, compared to the cheating Patrick Reed and others like DeChambeau and Koepka taking Saudi blood money for the sake of getting richer in front of crowds equivalent to a high school golf match.
Add Nicklaus getting political last year and watching the hokey Fed Ex Cup (finale) where players start with stroke advantages and I'm seeing a circus here I could care less about.
So I'll speak with my feet and while I will miss watching golf I am pretty disgusted with Phil, Norman and this fiasco that ruined the game for me. Reminds me of the NFL strike season and the scabs.
Mark Koszyk
Arlington Heights, Illinois