Rickie Fowler has admitted he and his fellow players were left 'disappointed' with the PGA Tour 's initial treatment of LIV Golf, which led to a bitter 12-month feud between the two circuits.
The world of golf was rocked last week, after the PGA Tour confirmed they had reached an agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) to work alongside their bitter rival LIV. The deal seemingly brought an end to the dispute that had plagued the sport over the past year.
The idea of the Tour working in unison with LIV Golf and its Saudi investors was unimaginable this time last year, with commissioner Jay Monahan setting out his stall from the outset.
Any player that opted to make the move to the breakaway league was brutally suspended from the PGA Tour, and the idea of cohesion between the two rivals was rubbished by Monahan. One man who was seemingly left unimpressed with this approach though was Fowler.
The American - who is leading the US Open at the halfway point - discussed the matter in Los Angeles this week, and believes Monahan should have at least opened discussions with LIV bosses when the idea was first proposed. "I would say, one thing where a lot of us were disappointed with the tour was not at least meeting with the guys at LIV," he said.
"Whether it's Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] and all the other people that were involved, just to learn about it. Even if you think it's a bad idea. Same with what's going on right now, even if you think it's a bad idea, you have to learn the ins and outs to make your own personal judgment or decision."
Monahan has arguably been the most scrutinised man in golf over the past year, with every decision from his treatment of the breakaway circuit, to the changes implemented to the Tour in the wake of LIV's threat put under the magnifying glass. And whilst he believes the commissioner could have done more, Fowler feels the PGA Tour currently finds itself in a 'good spot'.
"Jay, I feel like, he's done a good job. Could it have been better? Probably," he added. "But the tour has been in a good spot. So until we learn more about what's going on, you have to have a little bit of faith. They're looking at this as the best long-term option. But we don't know, yet."
Fowler himself was heavily linked with a move to LIV Golf, but has since claimed the interest was just pure curiosity, rather than concrete plans to join. Asked whether the Saudi switch was ever on the cards, he responded: "No, no, no. I just looked at it and wanted to learn as much as I could."
