Eddie Pepperell doesn’t mince his phrases about falling out of affection with golf.
The favored DP World Tour professional believes prize cash has ‘eroded’ lots of what is nice on the prime of the boys’s recreation since Saudi-funded LIV Golf’s emergence in 2022.
Pepperell, who additionally performs on the Resort Planner Tour, advised the NCG Golf Podcast that prize cash has grow to be ‘a much bigger half’ of the sport now and has beforehand criticised gamers who defected to LIV, leaving the established excursions supposedly for big monetary profit.
His opposition to the brand new circuit manifested in spats on Twitter, now X, with defector Lee Westwood and, from time to time, admitting his friendship with fellow tour participant Laurie Canter suffered.
Eddie Pepperell: Cash doesn’t drive me, and it by no means has
“There’s at all times been cash, there’s at all times been the diploma of fame, there’s at all times been excessive efficiency, by no means extra so than when you’ve got any person like Tiger Woods doing what he did,” Pepperell advised the NCG Golf Podcast.
“However I’d say that it’s most likely unequivocally the case that over the previous few years, cash has grow to be a a lot greater a part of that image.
“This will likely simply be me, that isn’t one thing that drives me and it by no means has performed. Due to this fact, it was inevitable that I used to be going to fall a bit extra out of affection with that endeavour. There was the need to need to get again to the highest of the sport.”
Pepperell is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, however misplaced his card in 2024. Having reached the heights of contending at The Open in 2018, the Gamers Championship in 2019, and likewise taking part in on the Masters, he now circulates what was once known as the Problem Tour.
Given his gripes with the sport’s local weather that noticed the PGA Tour compelled into monetary warfare and growing purses to compete with LIV, Pepperell advised NCG Golf Podcast host Tom Irwin that his drive to succeed in his peak once more has ‘diminished’.
“On the identical time, that additionally displays my experiences, having travelled so much to America and actually not beloved that have, despite the fact that I did okay at instances. It’s not a rustic that I really like going to. I a lot want travelling to Europe,” he added.
“That’s an enormous issue within the reality of some people who have determined to go and play LIV. I don’t assume that it’s all about cash. I’ve softened a few of my views on LIV and all that. I’ve most likely softened over time on why individuals went. From my very own perspective, when it comes to motivation and ambition to get again to the highest, it’s a lot diminished.
“I tweeted a fairly demoralising tweet just a few years in the past, saying one thing like my love and respect for skilled golfers has actually fallen. I really feel that, and for those who’re in that business, it’s very troublesome.
“That’s a troublesome relationship to have along with your sport. You don’t have to like one thing to be nice at it, however I basically assume you must respect it. And I respect the highest finish {of professional} golf lower than I used to, for positive.”
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Eddie Pepperell: ‘Mickelson is fascinating, however disruptive’
Irwin contemplated if a ‘charade’ had been uncovered within the recreation whereby the gamers’ sole focus has at all times been cash, however possibly by no means as clear as now, with gamers akin to Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson accepting reported nine-figure charges to go away the PGA Tour and be part of LIV.
“The publicity of the charade is spot on. That’s why in life typically, some issues are finest left hidden, even when the underlying motivations aren’t pure,” Pepperell added.
“For those who don’t know that, you don’t take care of it and when you get that publicity, which we’ve clearly seen in golf, and I believe it’s been egregious at instances.”
Mickelson was one of many first stars to affix LIV Golf and has performed within the new league because the very first occasion at Centurion Membership in June three years in the past.
This resolution got here one 12 months after profitable his sixth main on the PGA Championship, and a matter of months after making controversial feedback in regards to the Saudi Arabian regime, which is bankrolling LIV.
Regardless of the excellence we’ve got seen in golf across the unrest from the likes of Woods and Scottie Scheffler, Pepperell believes the picture of Lefty together with his arms round a pile of money, after he beat Woods in a pay-per-view cash match in 2018.
“It’s been sadly promulgated by the likes of Phil Mickelson. My view of Phil is attention-grabbing as a result of I’ve performed with Phil and I discover his presence within the recreation to be a captivating one, very disruptive and never all for the most effective in the mean time, however fairly a profession,” he stated.
“I beloved taking part in with Phil. He was such an endearing character. I’ve at all times discovered him that. I keep in mind strolling up one gap and speaking in regards to the shirts that he was carrying, as a result of he was carrying these long-sleeved William Dove shirts on the time.
“He had me touching his shirt and speaking in regards to the cloth. So eccentric. Jogs my memory lots of Padraig Harrington in a great way.
“Every little thing else that’s occurred, it’s seen a special aspect of him. The cash aspect of him – (There’s) been that picture the place he’s taking part in the match with Tiger and he’s received his arms round $10 million.
“That to me is the picture that epitomises skilled golf.
“For those who had been to ask me, what’s the one picture? I don’t consider Tiger profitable the Masters in 2019. I don’t consider Scottie in his performances. I consider Phil in that image.
“Which will simply be me, however that’s a disgrace as a result of it has eroded lots of what else is nice in regards to the prime of males’s skilled golf.”
Now have your say?
What do you consider the Eddie Pepperell Mickelson feedback, and do you agree with the Eddie Pepperell Mickelson feedback? Let me know at m.chivers@nationalclubgolfer.com and on X, and tell us what else we might speak about on The NCG Golf Podcast.
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