Harold Varner III is a player who isn't afraid to speak his mind, with the American one of the only LIV players to openly admit that the financial incentive was too good to turn down when he moved to the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022.
Now, in an interview with the Washington Post, Varner has reiterated that point, with the 32-year-old going on a foul-mouthed rant about players on the LIV circuit. “They’re full of s***; they’re growing their pockets." he stated, "I tell them all the time, all of them: You didn’t come here to f****** grow the f****** game.”
In the interview, it had been reported by sources that Varner had a $15 million signing-on bonus. However, according to the man himself, it was in fact more than the reported figure.
One thing that we do know is that the American joined LIV Golf for the financial gain, with Varner stating: “I play golf so I can change the direction of my family’s life and that’s it. No other reason.”
The likes of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson joined the league back in June 2022, with reported nine figure signing-on bonuses being the sum of money thrown about. Since players have joined LIV though, they have seen the lack of World Ranking Points affect their position severely, with the disappearance of Major appearances also causing some LIV players to gripe.
'Growing the game' has also been one of the reasons as to why players have jumped ship to LIV Golf but, in the eye of Varner, "You only make it worse if you keep talking.” He went on to add: "if you said I can’t play in the Majors, I’d be fine. I’ve accepted that. I was cool with it. But some of these motherf******, they want their cake and eat it too, I guess. Like, dude, you knew it was going to be bad. Like going against the f****** U.S. government: Good luck, man.”
Featuring in what could be his final Masters appearance, Varner launched a scathing attack on the media ahead of the tournament at Augusta National. In his rant, he was asked about whether there was pressure on him ahead of the Green Jacket showdown: "I want to play well. Everyone thinks we suck now, so I want to play great."
He added: "You all write it and I just read it. I don't pay attention. I don't know who wrote it. They have Twitter and social media. They just write. I want to play well. It's not like Space Jam where they took our talents away, so I'm super excited. I want to play well. That's why you play."
