Missing players like Phil Mickelson, Hudson Swafford may impact American Express, but will that hurt the event?
Forget for a moment the arguments about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. Forget for a moment the idea of guaranteed money in golf, or the comparisons of 54 holes with no cut versus 72 holes with a 36-hole cut.
For all the pros and cons of the LIV series and whether it should exist and how big a threat it is to the PGA Tour, there are some realities that need to be considered. The biggest of those realities is that the PGA Tour golfers who played in the first LIV event in London earlier this month have been suspended by the PGA Tour, and golfers who are playing their first LIV event in Portland, Ore., this week also will be suspended.
That means those golfers can’t compete in PGA Tour events – for now – leaving tour events without star players such as Dustin Johnson or Brooks Koepka who might be able to draw a gallery and sell a few tickets.
For now, we know the LIV players were allowed to play in the U.S. Open and they will be allowed to play in the British Open in two weeks. Neither of those events, major championships in men’s golf, are controlled by the PGA Tour.
But the RBC Canadian Open was played the week of the LIV event in London, and that meant past Canadian Open winner Dustin Johnson was in London rather than in Canada. This week the PGA Tour is at the John Deere Classic, but that might not be a great gauge on how the LIV could hurt the PGA Tour. The John Deere’s spot on the schedule, the week before many players take a two-week trip across the Atlantic Ocean for the Scottish Open and then the British Open, means many big names don’t play in the Deere event. That might mean that many of the bigger names on the LIV would likely skip the John Deere anyway.
So instead of the John Deere or even the Canadian Open, let’s look at how the LIV and the suspension of players might impact The American Express event in La Quinta next January. That’s seven months away and anything could happen in that time, including changes to suspensions or more players joining the LIV.
LIV players in the desert tournament
Desert golf fans might be surprised to learn that 10 golfers in the 48-player LIV field in Oregon played in The American Express in January. Fans probably already know that Phil Mickelson was the host of The American Express and played in La Quinta last January, and they may have heard that 2022 champion Hudson Swafford has joined the LIV.
But other names from the 2022 La Quinta field have either played in London or are set to play this week in Portland. That includes past American Express champion Patrick Reed and Pat Perez. Abraham Ancer, who finished second in the 2020 American Express, is now a LIV player. Others from the 2022 desert tournament include Talor Gooch, Graeme McDowell and Peter Uihlien. Just this week, Matthew Wolff and Carlos Ortiz, both American Express players in January, joined the LIV for the Portland event.
If the suspensions stay in place through January, those players won’t be allowed to play in The American Express, though it is possible the 52-year-old Mickelson might not have returned anyway.
Officials at The American Express can hope that other players in their field from last January, including Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose and others, will return in 2023 and give the tournament another strong field. In 2022, 15 of the top 50 players in the world were in La Quinta. Of those 15, Ancer and Reed are now on the suspension list.
Does that guarantee a weaker field for The American Express? Perhaps. But if players like Rahm and Scheffler are in the field next January, fans might not miss Ortiz or Wolff that much.
But the idea that 10 players from the 2022 American Express might be prevented from playing in the 2023 event shows that the LIV is having some impact on the PGA Tour. How big that impact will be in the end may not be known for a year or two.
Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support Local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: PGA Tour: Phil Mickelson, Hudson Swafford among 10 players who played in last American Express
