California – LIV Golf has attracted some of the game’s biggest names but former US Open champion Webb Simpson said on Wednesday the bleeding of players from the PGA Tour is all but done and the US-based circuit is now a more tight-knit group.
The breakaway circuit launched in June and counts 12 major champions among its players but the PGA Tour, in a bid to curb the ongoing threat, has since made sweeping changes including increased purses and an earnings assurance program.
“I feel like we didn’t just survive but we came out I think more unified and stronger and with different players’ ideas to make the Tour better and to make the Tour more competitive, more desirable to play,” Simpson told reporters ahead the PGA Tour’s season-opening Fortinet Championship in Napa, California.
“A lot of good came from it, but certainly you don’t want to lose players like Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau and Bubba Watson.
“Those guys have done a lot for the game of golf. But I’m not going to get into whether I thought it was a good play or bad play, I just don’t think it’s good for the game of golf.”
