Golfing icon Lee Trevino is never short of an opinion, as he gave his thoughts on the current divide in golf during some glowing praise for the state of the PGA Tour - claiming the "other side is gone".
Six-time Major champion Trevino was part of the original split in golf when the PGA Tour was formed in 1968 by a band of breakaway players moving away from the PGA of America.
The modern equivalent has seen some of the biggest names in the sport join LIV Golf, with now talks continuing to bring the two sides back together - or at least the best players on each side to play together more often.
Trevino is firmly on the PGA Tour side of the argument, and believes that the LIV Golf side is "dead" as he gave his strong opinion on the matter during his appearance on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio.
“It goes way back, I’m one of the guys that did the split the first time, I was in on that. I was at the meeting at Jack Nickalus’ club when the players wanted to go their own way," Trevino said at the Players Championship - where he voiced how healthy he thought the current state of golf was.
"Personally, golf is in a hell of a position right now. It is great. Our attendance is up, our ratings are up, the people are loving it. The players are playing faster.
"Television is doing a tremendous job. Just this year from what I've seen, instead of watching some guy leaning on his putter at the back of the green they're showing someone else hit a shot.
"Now if we can just get the caddie and the player to make a decision a little bit quicker we’ll be even better, we dont want to go to the clock, I'm sure of that."
And part of golf's rude health, according to Trevino, is the new Strategic Sports Group investment, which others have also pointed to as a reason why the PGA Tour is not urgently seeking to wrap-up a deal with the Saudi PIF.
"Our investors, we’ve got 400 million dollars new coming in," Trevino added.
"Personally, just being the gatepost coming from Mex, I think it’s dead, I think the other side is gone."
It's not entirely clear whether Trevino was suggesting that LIV Golf may not have much of a future or whether it was the proposed deal that is "dead" but either way it's clear the 85-year-old is boyant about the PGA Tour's immediate future - with or without a deal.
