the money will be, too.” Nobody could accuse Gary Player of being unfulfilled in his work. The nine-time major winner, whose autobiography is titled, To Be the Best, always acted like he had the coolest job in the world. At 88 he remains driven, still shooting even par rounds from the middle tees, still seeking challenge. “You can’t make money your objective and be a superstar, which to me is someone who wins six majors or more, though I wonder who is going to get there anymore,” Player says. “You must want something deeper. I made myself love adver- sity because you can’t escape it. I was that crazy to be a champion, but that sort of attitude is much harder to sustain now because the game is wrapped around money like never before.” Nick Faldo, who made Player’s exclusive desig- nation with his six majors, says money can be an indirect motivator when it’s needed, an impedi- ment when it no longer is. “When I was in my early prime playing against guys like Seve and Greg, I knew I had to win to change my lifestyle – get a good car, fly first class, a house near Wentworth,” Faldo says. “I just tried very hard to win, knowing the money would come with that effort, but it’s harder to be great if you don’t need to win, and as much as I played to test myself against the best, that became a challenge for me as I got older. These young guys now are suddenly getting enormous major sport money and have everything they want; I don’t think they will push themselves as hard as we did.” Even Jack Nicklaus, who sustained greatness longer than anyone in history and who enjoys his role as a sounding board for many of today’s young stars, confesses some concern that the new money could have a dulling effect on competition. “I would think that it’s only human nature that it would affect motivation and performance. It’s what I worry about on the tour.” Other factors may also be softening the com- petitive edge. The new emphasis on improving mental health among elite athletes has touched golf, especially with the suicide death of Grayson Murray in May. The PGA Tour has acknowledged that it is providing counselling to address new stressors like the social-media news cycle, and Dr Michael Lardon is advocating for a mental-health trailer along the model of the tour’s successful fitness trailer that started in 1985. Rory McIlroy emphasised enjoyment when he returned to the game at the Scottish Open a month after his painful loss at the US Open at Pinehurst, speaking of a revitalising sojourn he spent in New York City as part of a new approach. “I need to take a step back and appreciate what I’ve done in my career and in my life and enjoy my success,” he said. “I don’t really enjoy my success, and I haven’t, I would say, for the last five years. I’m
and greatness is the best producer of epic golf. Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam, Byron Nelson’s 11 victo- ries in a row, Ben Hogan’s six major-championship triumphs after a near-fatal car accident, Arnold Palmer’s charismatic years of dominance and Jack Nicklaus’ unprecedented two decades at the top have all been repositories and beacons of what golf greatness entails. With the “irrational” finan- cial offers that have destabilised professional golf, LIV has lessened the long-presumed importance of week-to-week tournament play, and drained the sport of some of the passion and intensity that is essential to this otherwise slow-moving game. LIV has discovered this. Despite its novel peripheral efforts for attention, the casualness in LIV’s presentation fails to project energy and remains antithetical to serious competition. To a lesser degree, the now defunct, lucrative and no- cut WGC events on the PGA Tour also suffered from low intensity and were often dismissed as “cash grabs.” Comedian Jerry Seinfeld could have been cautioning pro golf when he recently wondered, on the “Blocks Podcast” in May, “What the hell happened that money became everything. In the 1970s, it was, ‘How cool is your job? How cool is what you’re doing? If your job’s cooler than mine, you beat me.’ ... If your work is unfulfilling,
THE MAVERICK Bryson DeChambeau has rebutted the idea that a soft schedule sates a hunger to be great.
44 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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