Wyndham Clark has candidly stated that the chance to take a lucrative offer from LIV Golf would've been appealing if it meant he could still have unrestricted access to PGA Tour play.
In whispers around the sporting world last year, Clark was tipped to join the ranks of LIV Golfers, sharing the spotlight with heavyweights like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau. However, he ultimately elected to stay with the traditional PGA Tour, which presently suspends players who hop over to LIV Golf's camp.
Although the ban posed too great a sacrifice for Clark, he conceded during the No Laying Up Podcast that if the door had been open to flit between both circuits, he and others atop the golfing elite would have leapt at the Saudi-funded league's cash-stuffed lifeline.
"If we 100 percent knew we could take the money and come back, then we all would have done that," explained Clark. "Because we all would've been way richer and then you come back and actually play at the highest level."
Over the links, buzz circulates about potential truce talks between PGA Tour officials and the backers of LIV Golf, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a development that could see LIV-affiliated pros reinstated in some fashion on the storied PGA greens.
In light of these ongoing discussions, Clark has aired his views, hinting that returning golf icons should receive a warm welcome. "I think it depends on who it is," he mentioned.
Speaking on the dynamic between golfers and their career achievements with regards to PGA Tour rights, one golfer laid it out forthrightly: "I think guys that have had the career where they should be lifelong PGA Tour players, I think they deserve the right to come play the PGA Tour. If Dustin Johnson wants to come back and Phil Mickelson and guys that have won, Brooks [Koepka], who have won majors and are most likely hall of famers, they deserve to play wherever the hell they want, because they're so good."
On the flip side, Clark took a harder stance against less accomplished players who jumped ship, stating: "I think guys that maybe left and didn't have that pedigree and career. I think those are the guys I struggle with because they made their decision. So they chose to go play there, and take the money. I think that's what a lot of us wrestle with."
The timeline for when the deal will be finalized between the PGA Tour and PIF remains unclear. Although talks have been ongoing for 16 months since the original agreement, recent events suggest a warming relationship.
Earlier this month, the PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan were spotted at the Pro-Am draw of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, hinting at possible progress in the discussions.
