While many golf fans might be completely turned off to the sport after the announcement of the PGA Tour/DP World Tour/LIV Golf merger on Tuesday, 98.5 The Sports Hub host Mike Felger is going to be more inclined to tune in more regularly.
On Felger & Mazz on Wednesday, Felger felt like bringing unique personalities like PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau back into the fray after they defected last year to join LIV will be more of an incentive to watch.
“I’ve got to tell you, this has brought me a little back to golf,” Felger said. “At least there’s something here. And as opposed to these milquetoast, lily white, ‘Iron Byron’ – that’s what I call them, all these country club kids with the exact same swing who never say anything or give me any sort of edge. You know, Jordan Spieth and who’s the latest? Mark Scheffler? What’s his name?”
“Oh, Scottie Scheffler,” co-host Tony Massarotti responded.
“Like one cardboard cutout after the next,” Felger said. “Like, oh, my God. I have found the PGA Tour so flippin boring for so long.”
Koepka, DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and others have sort of embraced being a heel among PGA Tour fans. Felger said having guys who can show some emotion and personality on the course is refreshing in a sport where a certain spirit of decorum is expected.
“There’s depth to what he is,” Felger said of Koepka. “And maybe he’s a bad guy. Whatever. Golf needs that. Golf needs it. It needs personality. It needs good guys, bad guys. Guys to root for, guys to root against.”
The discussion circled back to the merger having serious financial backing by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which got LIV Golf off the ground and lured some big names away from the PGA Tour with massive signing bonuses.
Felger said he gets that people will have certain feelings towards the Saudi royal family and the government, and those feelings are justified. But at the end of the day if he wants to turn on the TV and catch a golf tournament, he’s going to do that. By being interested in watching this new iteration of professional golf, it’s not an endorsement of the Saudi government’s role in 9/11 or other atrocities.
“I’m not here to save the world,” he said. “I’m just here to watch a little golf.”
