Lanto Griffin earlier this 12 months.
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In these wildly unsure occasions within the higher ranks of males’s skilled golf, nobody appears to know what to suppose, say or do: tour directors, sponsors, media, followers and, sure, the gamers.
Perhaps particularly the gamers, who’ve been caught for months in an unsettling wait-and-see limbo.
With about six weeks remaining till the said deadline for the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf, to announce their go-forward (or go-backward?) plans, and with a handful of different traders circling Ponte Vedra like hungry vultures, who is aware of what’s in retailer for the way forward for the Tour? About the one assure is that the richest gamers stand to get richer. But who will fund these payouts, what tournaments will survive and the way fields shall be shaped stay open questions. Then, earlier this week, got here but extra uncertainty when Rory McIlroy, the Tour’s poster boy, unexpectedly stepped down from the Tour Policy Board, citing an overtaxed schedule.
In years previous, gamers might not have spent an excessive amount of time sweating who may fill such a emptiness. But with the way forward for the Tour within the stability, the Tour’s participant administrators — at the moment Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Tiger Woods — have by no means held extra sway or accountability. This doesn’t imply it’s a job each participant essentially desires (Jon Rahm, for one, has no curiosity), however it’s one during which many gamers now have extra of a vested curiosity, the Tour’s center class particularly.
This level got here throughout forcefully in a remarkably candid interview Lanto Griffin gave Golfweek’s Adam Schupak on the RSM Classic this week. Griffin, who’s 35, represents the Tour’s proletariat. Since becoming a member of the Tour in 2017-18, he has racked up a win, 10 prime 10s and greater than $7 million in earnings, however is a great distance from having fun with entrée into the coveted signature occasions. This week is an enormous one for him. At 174th within the FedEx Cup Fall standings, Griffin wants a robust end at Sea Island to claw into the highest 125 and earn full standing for subsequent season.
His thought of an efficient participant director? For starters, somebody who listens to all gamers.
“There are certain guys out here among the top players who won’t give you the time of day and then there are guys like Rory who will,” Griffin told Golfweek. “I talked to him for about 30 minutes at Players and then again in Canada, which is really nice of him, and he listens. There are some guys out here who wouldn’t do it. Justin Thomas wouldn’t do it. Collin Morikawa wouldn’t. I feel like there is an elitist group. Rory feels like he can listen in and understand where we’re coming from, too. Someone like that with personality. Brandt Snedeker just to throw a name out. Someone who is respected by everybody but also has some perspective and isn’t just making $40 million to $50 million off the course and is going to be guaranteed to be in every elevated event.”
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It’s not usually you hear Tour execs name out their friends by identify, and Griffin wasn’t executed. He additionally takes challenge with the construction of the FedEx Cup, which he believes doles out factors inequitably, making it unfairly troublesome for mid- and lower-tier gamers to climb the ladder.
“Give them all the money they want, but when you start giving them the points, I’ve got a problem with that,” Griffin advised Golfweek of the Tour’s prime 50. “Do you know what fifth in an elevated event next year makes in FedEx Cup points? Three-hundred. It’s 110 for a normal event. So I go play Torrey Pines with 156 players and a cut, and Rory goes to L.A. the next week in a 78-players, no-cut field, and he gets nearly three times the points for the same finish. How is one going to compete with that? The guys that are making the decision are obviously going to look out for themselves. That’s where there is a disconnect for guys in my position, the normal guys. So having someone who will listen and not be only concerned about the top 10.”
Malnati, who’s 36, is a type of gamers. In truth, he has had an eerily related profession to Griffin’s, compiling one win, 11 prime 10s and $7.8 million in earnings. When the signature (née elevated) construction was first introduced final 12 months, Malnati bitterly opposed it, fearing it boxed out the Tour’s employee bees. But he was since come round to it, writing in a March 2023 memo to his fellow gamers that “the new model will make the PGA Tour stronger, more competitive, more marketable, and more rewarding for every single member.”
Griffin, although, has remained unconvinced. He can’t get previous how FedEx factors are divvied up.
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“Rory shouldn’t have an advantage over me in the FedEx Cup,” Griffin advised Golfweek. “If he desires $20 million purses and $100 million PIP cash, take it. We don’t give a s–t. I advised Rory this. I mentioned, ‘Beginning of the year, what’s your aim? Win the FedEx Cup, win majors, win three, 4 occasions? Do you already know what 70 % of the fellows out right here, there foremost aim is? To maintain their job.’ He mentioned, ‘Fair enough.’ We care about cash — that comes with good play — however we’re extra nervous about retaining our job. Every 12 months there’s 5 to 10 actually good gamers that return to Korn Ferry Tour which have been out right here for a very long time. Do you suppose Rory is nervous about that? JT had the worst 12 months he’ll ever have this 12 months and completed 71st. That was a reasonably nice 12 months for me final 12 months. I had surgical procedure and I used to be harm however nonetheless managed 4 top-10s. To have the deck stacked in opposition to us — we’re shedding factors, cash, begins, it seems like, who’s making these choices?
Griffin mentioned he has grown so disenchanted with the path of the Tour that he gained’t even open correspondences from Tour HQ anymore.
“It’s so emotional,” he mentioned. “Them changing the FedEx Cup, changing the points, changing the elevated events, changing all this stuff in the middle of the season. It’s BS,” he mentioned. Griffin added: “It’s sad because the dream growing up was to play on the PGA Tour. It doesn’t feel that prestigious anymore. It feels more like a job. It’s become so politicized. It’s been frustrating for a lot of guys out here. Just the image of what we’re doing, but not much else we can do but show up and do our job and see if we can play well.”
You can learn everything of the Golfweek interview here.
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