Living in fantasy land’: Pro weighs in on entitled players, fan discontent

Living in Fantasyland\’: Pro appreciates complaints from eligible players and fans.

Mackenzie Hughes’ press conference has begun

In early January, many reporters are talking about how great it is to start the season in Hawaii. Once you get to Hawaii, it’s like a “vacation,” says Hughes. The winner of the 2023 PGA Tour event or the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup are invited. The best of the best.

Of course, just a few months ago, Hughes had no plans to attend the celebration. He was 51 years old and the first weirdo. 18-year-old Jon Rahm opened the door wide for Hughes to walk in before leaving for LIV Golf. That brought him into the Kapalua media room for one of the first press conferences of the PGA Tour season.

For about nine minutes, the conversation turned to fantastical topics like whales jumping into the ocean in car-accessible waters. Simple thing. Until my colleague Dylan Dethier asked about the thoughts Hughes shared on Twitter about how lost fans feel in every decision made at the sport’s highest level. “2019 was a great year for golf, you know that?” Hughes said. “Our economic model has been stable. The LIV threat came and suddenly we started doubling our wallets, asking our backers to double their investments and offering the same products. Fans also seem to be wondering if men these days are really into golf or are they all worried about money?

Hughes was disappointed to find himself in this situation. As a member of the Tour Advisory Board, he is one of 16 players who will discuss issues every few weeks in 2023 and discuss how they think they should be resolved on Tour. The obvious focus of those conversations was LIV Golf, but the tour itself eventually became the focus of fans, sponsors, TV networks and more. It is also a product that can be sold. That’s why media rights are a critical component of how tournament players get their value.

When Hughes looks at what the tour will sell in 2024, he doesn’t think it will be much different from what it sold in 2019. In a strictly economic sense, the same tournament is slightly modified and sold at a much higher price to the sponsors, who take most of the purse value.

“We have the same product as in 2019, but we still want to get not only more investment, but in a bigger way,” he said. “I like this product, but it feels like the same product. I think fans will be scratching their heads wondering what’s going on. I also don’t know where some players play and there are conflicts between LIV and the PGA Tour and they are not integrated in any way. Inexplicable and protracted negotiations continue. Fans love to watch golf. I think you watch sports to get rid of other crap, but golf brought a lot of crap to your plate and now you get a lot of other things out of it as well as the game of golf. It’s like a circus.

Hughes doesn’t like how unstable the current product is. He doesn’t like how many of his teammates are available for the Tour. He doesn’t like to push his wallet to $30 million. Those were all the thoughts he shared in Hawaii on Tuesday. He doesn’t like the attitude that “the tour owes me” or that fans can’t be sure which player will play in which tournament. And since he had a microphone in his hand, he decided to say something. “I think a lot of men deserve that too.” Hughes continued. “Like, when you start seeing all this big money, there’s auctions and auctions and people are like, ‘Oh, honestly, where’s my money?’ I don’t think you’re eligible to play on the PGA Tour. You have the right and the privilege to play here and it’s an opportunity, but nobody owes you anything. No one is forcing your hand. You don’t have to stay. You can play there if you want.