Billy Horschel has claimed that some LIV Golf supporters are partially to blame for the ongoing divisiveness in men's professional golf.
Horschel returned to the winner's circle at last week's Corales Puntacana Championship, but his eighth PGA Tour victory comes at a time of great flux for the sport.
Despite it being ten months since the shock framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings revealed that talks between the game's power brokers have still to begin.
With television ratings continuing to slump, a deal to end golf's divisive civil war and bring all the best players back together can't come soon enough for many, including, most notably, World No.2 Rory McIlroy.
Others, such as Jordan Spieth, have suggested that the Tour's recent $3bn deal with Strategic Sports has lessened the need for PIF investment and LIV stars returning to the Tour. Speaking on Barstool's Foreplay pod, Horschel admitted he could understand both sides.
"I straddle the line on that," he said. "I agree with Rory that if we're going to get a deal with PIF, then we need those guys to be a part of the PGA Tour, because that's going to instantaneously increase the value or at least the perception of the value of the PGA Tour.
"But I also understand the Jordan side and I'm okay if we have two competing tours. Competition is a great thing. It makes both have to improve and do things to get better and I believe that the PGA Tour product will always win out because I believe our product is better than anything that can come forth."
Does the PGA Tour need LIV players to come back? pic.twitter.com/etpCL6x6Y4April 26, 2024
Horschel, however, went further and suggested that some LIV supporters were to blame for the hostile atmosphere that surrounds the sport.
"My thing is that if we don't get a deal with PIF, then we need to stop this bickering, this little back and forth," he said. "You know, I think that's what's turning off a lot of these fans a little bit, just the bickering between both sides.
"I'm going to get shot for this a little bit but on the PGA Tour side some of the bickering has gone away, but I think on their side they're still taking shots here and there and I'm not saying the players are taking shots but some of the supporters of the LIV Tour are taking shots.
"It just needs to go away. I'm not saying that there is not still some nastiness from the PGA Tour's supporters towards LIV but that all needs to stop because that's not beneficial to the game of golf and the growth of the game of golf."
