One of Golf's Most Connected Amateurs Has Much to Say on LIV Golf and None of It Positive
Amateur Jimmy Dunne knows everyone in golf and has strong opinions on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Thos Caffrey/Golffile
BROOKLINE, Mass. – The only way you could get closer to professional golf than Jimmy Dunne is if you were a flagstick. Dunne has partnered with both Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The week before the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Mickelson and Jon Rahm stayed at his house; the next week, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler did. Dunne is a member of Augusta National and the president of Seminole, the club where Ben Hogan used to prepare for the Masters. His partner at Seminole’s legendary pro-member event is Dustin Johnson.
Golf has enriched all of those stars, but the game did even more for Dunne: It saved his life. On 9/11, Dunne would have been working in his office at Sandler O’Neill (now Piper Sandler) in the south tower of the World Trade Center, but he was out trying to qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur instead. Many of his close friends and colleagues were killed.
For all of these reasons, I called Dunne this week to talk about the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf Tour. The Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund is spending a fortune – probably in the billions – with no hope of or interest in turning a profit, all to use golf to sportswash the country’s awful human-rights record. It is both a moral outrage and an existential threat to the PGA Tour. Mickelson is the most prominent player on the LIV tour and McIlroy is its most prominent critic. Dunne is friends with both.
Dunne did not want to speak much about the Saudis, saying that after losing so many friends on 9/11, “I would not be the fairest judge of Saudi involvement.” But he was candid and insightful about what he called “the Saudi tour” and his friends who have signed up.
“I don't like it when they say they're 'growing the game,’” Dunne said. “That's crap. I don't even like it when they say 'I have to do what's best for my family.' I really wonder how many of those guys, the lifestyle that they were living was so horrible that their family needed them to do this. Just say, 'I'm at a point in my career where I (want to) make five times as much money against much weaker competition and play less.' Just tell the truth. Don't cover it with a lot of crap.”
Dunne said LIV CEO Greg Norman “is the luckiest man in the world, because he had this vendetta his whole career and he found someone to bankroll it.” Dunne understands that LIV is a threat to the PGA Tour. But he thinks it’s also a threat to the psyches of golfers who join it.
To Dunne, there are two defining characteristics of professional golf: “One is absolute competition, the meritocracy once the tournament starts. The other is the 'it factor,'” — the psychological component that allows a golfer to hit shots and drain putts under pressure. Put the top 300 golfers in the world on the driving range and the differences in skill level are barely noticeable. But put them on the course, and … well, some guys have it, and some don’t.
“Rory has got the 'it factor,'” Dunne said. “Rahm's got the 'it factor.' Justin Thomas has the 'it factor.' ... (Some) guys have 'it,' the X factor that will allow them to go out and compete … “I remember talking to Arnold Palmer about it. He remembered when he lost ‘it.’ It's hard to define. When I look up and down the people that are on the list on the Saudi Tour, it's guys that have never had ‘it’ or have lost ‘it’ …
“You show me who on that list has ‘it.’ It is a tough thing to keep. It's hard. And in golf, it's fragile. And it goes in and out. Jordan Spieth looked like he lost 'it' but he didn't. Rory ebbs and flows and he's never lost it. It's hard to keep it.”
Think about it that way, and the PGA Tour is in a stronger position than it appears. Johnson, Reed and Bryson DeChambeau can leave, but do 54-hole events with guaranteed millions really provide a path to becoming the best player in the world?
“There is just something about doing something where you can't buy your way in. You have to go out and do it,” Dunne said. “(On Thursday morning) you're starting back from scratch again. If you don't play really well, you're going to lose money for the week. That's integral to the golf tournament. There's got to be that pressure.”
So far, at least, LIV events have no pressure. Dunne saw Saudi Public Investment Fund head Yasir Al-Rumayyan say anybody who shoots a 54 will get $54 million and said, “This is the guy that's running the event? I mean, come on. This is the head guy? That's like something you'd see on 'Saturday Night Live.' It's an exhibition, OK? There have been exhibitions. Gary and Jack did them all the time. That's what this is.
“LIV, I think it's an exhibition tour. Charl Schwartzel, he's a delightful, elegant guy. The last time he won was in 2016. He goes out and wins the first thing? I mean, come on.”
Dunne has a remarkably simple solution for how to keep the Saudi tour from taking over the golf world. He believes the PGA Tour is correct to ban players who play LIV events: “I don't think it's particularly fair (that) they earned their abilities on the very tour they are trying to hurt now.” But the majors, he says, should not ban LIV players. They should just treat LIV Golf events as exhibitions. Don’t award world ranking points. Don’t use them to help determine the field.
“I think what's important for the British Open and our Open is it be open to anybody that's good enough to play,” said Dunne, who did not comment on what the Masters will or should do. “Since they're playing 54-hole exhibitions, not golf tournaments, (golfers) should have to go through Open qualifiers. That's what I would do.”
Dunne believes the majors define the best golfers, not the other way around. Force all the LIV golfers to go through qualifiers, with a limited number of spots available, and see how they like it. Sure, major champions have exemptions. But those don’t last as long as it seems. DeChambeau’s Masters exemption runs three more years. Reed has a lifetime exemption from the Masters but could lose his exemptions to the other three majors after this year if he falls far enough in the world ranking.
Meanwhile – at least in theory – McIlroy and Thomas and Spieth and dozens of others will be sharpening each other’s skills on the PGA Tour. PGA Tour golfers will continue to dominate the fields at majors and win most of them.
“If the Tour does exist, they'll create new heroes,” Dunne said. “We love our guys that are up there, but they're not unreplaceable.”
I asked if it is possible that so many players will defect that the Tour will collapse.
“The answer to that question is, 'I don't know. And you don't know,’” Dunne said. “If someone is willing to pay incredibly uneconomic prices, they will be unbelievably disruptive. You don't know how much money they're willing to offer people. It takes a lot to say no to a bucketful of money. I congratulate Tiger Woods.
“The average person with the average doubts and insecurities is going to be tempted when you bring an unlimited amount of money to them. Don't kid yourself. Will they be able to attract more players? Absolutely. My point is that the Tour has something (of value). (The Saudis) can't have everyone playing guaranteed $50 million. What are they going to get, 200 guys?”
Norman has said he wants LIV events to count toward ranking points. But if the majors announce that LIV events will definitely not help anybody qualify for them, and McIlroy, Thomas and others hang on, what happens to LIV golfers? They will be filthy rich, but they will lose their pathways toward mainstream relevance.
“They're replaceable,” Dunne said. “Did you know Will Zalatoris two years ago? Did you know Scottie Scheffler? He's the No. 1 player in the world. The average age of the top 10 is 27. The average age of the 'I have lost it' tour is 41. What does that tell you?”
This is all unfolding so fast, and the future is so hard to predict accurately. But the truth is that guys who grab the cash don’t really understand what awaits them. Eight-figure guarantees sound great. But they come with a price.
“I spoke to one player that has not gone but may,” Dunne said. “He was down in Florida and was thinking about it. The head (LIV) guy called him ... 'you gotta come over today, so-and-so is only going to be here from 1 to 5.' The guy says 'I can't.' 'You don't understand. We're telling you to come now.'”
He says once you sign up with the Saudis, “you're kind of with them.”
And you’re beholden to them?
“Yeah. And their moods can change.”
Picture two players – one who leaves the PGA Tour, and one who stays. The guy who leaves for monstrous checks from LIV might live a more luxurious life. But the player who is competing week-in and week-out for checks he actually earns will be a better player.
In his Florida office Thursday, Dunne watched the U.S. Open and said he will be watching Sunday, no matter who is in the final groups, because it is the U.S. Open. He said, “I think there's a lot of pressure on Reed and Kevin Na and Dustin to play well this weekend. The worse they play, it really hurts their tour.”
LIV Golf is winning over players. That doesn’t mean LIV Golf players will continue to win.
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> U.S. Open Day 1: Live Scores, Updates
> DP World Tour Needs to Take a Stand One Way or Another on LIV Golf
> The 2022 U.S. Open Will Award a Record $17.5 Million Purse, $3.15 Million to Win
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