Lee Trevino shares his take on the PGA Tour’s uphill battle against LIV Golf

There are few players who can match the frank candor and seasoned perspective of PGA Tour legend Lee Trevino.

At age 84, the six-time major winner remains one of the best interviews in golf, evidenced by his recent appearance on GOLF’s Subpar podcast.

Trevino shared his thoughts on a number of the game’s hot topics, but his take on the PGA Tour and LIV was of particular interest to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.

According to Trevino, the Saudi PIF’s seemingly unlimited money is going to continue to be a very difficult thing for the PGA Tour to compete against.

“I mean, how do you turn down something like that?” Trevino said. “If it’s guaranteed, if it’s in your bank, it’s a hard thing to do. You have to understand that you’re self-employed. There’s an organization here that actually is running these stock tournaments. They don’t own you. They think they own you, but they don’t own you. You just happen to be, have a membership at a club and you have to qualify to go over there and play in that club.

“[LIV’s] got a lot of money. They have a ton of money,” he continued. “I don’t know how much money we’ve spent on lawyer fees, but they can absolutely keep us in court until we don’t have a golf club, we don’t have a golf ball. And that’s the whole problem.”

Trevino also suggested that, if LIV’s format changes to include four rounds and they ultimately become eligible for world-ranking points, it will become even harder for the PGA Tour to retain players.

“I don’t know where it’s going, but I will say this: that if it is true that they have $600 billion in that kitty, I don’t know how we’re going to compete,” Trevino said. “When you look at it, they’re starting to get better and better players. If they get points — they’re negotiating now, if I’m not mistaken, to get points — if that happens, if they go to four rounds at LIV and take that tour to 60, and still pay these players, I can’t tell you how many players we’re gonna lose. And good ones.

“They can absolutely drown you,” Trevino continued. “What can we do? We’re nonprofit. And when we run out of money, there’s no way we can fight it. And you know what I’m afraid of? If they get a network, then they might not need the tour.”

What happens between LIV and the PGA Tour remains to be seen, but if you’d like more Lee Trevino in your life, his entire Subpar episode is worth a listen below.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.