No Love Lost On Defecting Players

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA | The news of the day at the Wyndham Championship on Tuesday was the announcement that Steve Stricker (no surprise) and Webb Simpson (mild surprise) will be assistant captains for Davis Love III when the Presidents Cup is played next month at Quail Hollow Club, joining Fred Couples and Zach Johnson on the U.S. side.

However, the inescapable subject remained what it’s been for months now: LIV Golf’s heavy-handed intrusion into professional golf, which has jarred the sport’s structure and clouded its future.

For Love, the turmoil engulfing the sport is both professional and personal.

A World Golf Hall of Famer, lifetime member, five-term member of the PGA Tour’s agenda-setting Policy Board and one of the most admired figures in the game, Love not only has the ear of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan but the trust of multiple generations of players.

Love never saw this coming.

He heard about LIV and its audacious plans, but counseled Monahan its threat would fade. Instead, it has grown, luring aw...