Most of the players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf have been heavily criticized for choosing money over history. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson believes that’s an unfair way of looking at it.
Watson recently told ESPN that he received guaranteed money from sponsors and tournaments while on the PGA Tour. Technically, the organization’s rules didn’t allow that.
“It makes me laugh because on the PGA Tour, I got paid behind closed doors to show up at tournaments, many tournaments,” Watson told ESPN. “And if Bubba Watson’s not the best, that means the best were getting paid better than me and more than me. And so it’s guaranteed money. I miss the cut, I still make money. I make the cut, I make extra money.”
Watson may have hinted at a double standard when it comes to how the PGA Tour and LIV Golf operate.
“I’d laugh at [criticism] because we all had some guaranteed money to show up at places,” he added. “Win, lose, quit, whatever it is, you still got the money. We’ve all been doing that. We’ve all been playing for guaranteed money. The critics, it just makes me laugh because that’s what we’re doing. We don’t want to talk about it on tour, but we are getting it.”
The PGA Tour responded to this claim from Watson by saying it “prohibits the payment of appearance money to players as an inducement to play in a particular tournament.”
Watson joined LIV Golf in late July. Since he’s recovering from a torn meniscus, he’s expected to return to play in 2023.