‘It’s All About Money, Which Is Fine, But Don’t Sit There And Then Go On And Say They’re Changing The Game’ – Fred Couples In Latest LIV Dig

The 15-time PGA Tour winner has criticised players for being insincere about their reasons for joining LIV Golf

Fred Couples has criticized certain players for joining LIV Golf for what he believes to be phony reasons.

The 1992 Masters winner appeared on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio to share his opinions on why players have chosen to enter the circuit. He started off by jokingly stating what he would like the following player to sign for LIV.

He explained: “I want to see the next superstar to say, ‘I’m going to that LIV. Do you know why I’m going? Because it is unreal. They play Riviera and they play TPC Phoenix in front of 300,000 people and they do this and they do that,’ but I want them to go for free and then go on CNN and every TV show and say why they’re going because it’s that good.

“100m doesn’t get it, 200m doesn’t get it, 300m doesn’t get it, but for 400, it’s a great product, it’s a great show, my ass! Tell me the next guy, if it’s Tony Finau, ‘I’m going to free, boys. I love this tour. I don’t like the PGA Tour anymore.’

While Finau has confirmed he won’t be joining LIV Golf in the off-season, there is an expectation of others being tempted, particularly after current Masters champion Jon Rahm opted to leave the PGA Tour behind to sign up, reportedly for a sum in the region of $560m.

Couples doesn’t buy into the line that stars signing for LIV do so because they want to improve or change the game, even though other players have also paid enormous sums of money to join. Rather, he clarified that he didn’t mind if players joined for financial reasons as long as they were upfront about it.

He added: “No one’s going to do that, so what does that tell me? It tells me it’s all about money, which is fine, but don’t sit there and then go on and say they’re changing the game.”

Couples, who became the oldest player to make cut in April’s Masters at Augusta National, certainly has plenty of experience where it comes to seeing first-hand how the game has evolved over the decades, and he also pointed out that the game was changing long before LIV Golf came on the scene.

He said: “What are they changing? Actually, for 50 years golf has been changed. Arnold Palmer changed it, Jack Nicklaus changed it, Tiger Woods changed it. The LIV tour ain’t changing a thing.”

The 64-year-old has long been a supporter of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf. He responded to the PGA Tour’s decision to deny its players releases to play in the first LIV Golf event by writing on X: “Denied… denied… denied.”

He has also questioned the reasons given by players for signing up in the past. Last year, after Open champion Cameron Smith joined, he took a dig at his stated motivation of wishing to spend more time in his homeland of Australia,

Couples wrote on Twitter (now X): “To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings …… so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the PGA Tour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends. And by weekends i mean 72 holes. Sorry not sorry.”

In August last year, he additionally portrayed players who joined LIV Golf under the affectation of changing the game as “hilarious.” He said: “This large number of folks believe they’re changing the game and to me, it’s diverting. It’s truly hilarious. To have music on each tee and have individuals drinking lagers and believe that is cool. I never figured the cast and team that would do that would be the folks making it happen.”

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