This could all end in tears.

Golf has evolved so much for me since watching the Open Championship on the BBC back in the late ‘70s. Jack Nicklaus was my man, though in later life I drifted over to appreciate the skill of Lee Trevino not for his performances at Augusta in April or the aforementioned Open Championship in July but his annual autumnal appearance in Gleneagles when he featured in the pro-celebrity golf series that was aired weekly. His chat and unique golf swing endeared me to him and suddenly I had two horses in every Major race. Like most memories from our youth, life was simpler then unlike today and this is most evident currently in the golf world.

The PGA Tour was never on my radar growing up and only became relevant with the advent of SKY Sport’s coverage in the early 2000s. Tiger Woods went from moving the dial to becoming the dial and although neither the PGA Tour nor the European Tour clashed for the television audience because of the time zones, it was obvious who the big brother was. The dramatic turn in fortunes for the European Team in the Ryder Cup may have papered over the cracks in suggesting that both tours were equal but in the last 18 months these cracks have turned into crevasses.

The advent of LIV golf is slow burning at the moment and the joint announcement by the PGA and the R&A later this week about a new golf ball rule for all golfers will be viewed by many casual golf fans as a negative rather than a positive story. However, the elephant in the room in my opinion is the rewarding of PGA Tour status to the end-of-season top 10 currently non-exempt European Tour players. Global sports have managed to get along with one another in various forms but when one looks a little closer at the pyramid of the various leagues there is always one positioned at the apex. In baseball they have a lovely expression when referring to whether a player has played in Major League Baseball or as they like to call it “the show.”

The only show in golf this week is the PGA Tour but with Jon Rahm allegedly in talks with the Saudi backed LIV circus; this could all end in tears. The excitement with which those European players announced their intentions in accepting their 2024 PGA status should have sent alarm bells ringing in the offices of the European Tour. It will also be a concern for those golfing governing bodies that look to their respective national opens as being the highlight of the domestic golfing calendar. The opportunity to see golfers in the flesh as opposed to watching them on television was always viewed as a great boost in encouraging kids to take up the game. What would normally have been a quite time of the year for golf looks like becoming compulsive viewing this festive season for all the wrong reasons. ?