Justin Rose has cast doubt on the viability of LIV Golf and PGA Tour organising a joint schedule that would attract the sport's elite players. Despite a "framework agreement" being announced last year, progress towards a unified golfing calendar has been sluggish.
The English golfer, who first competed on the PGA Tour in 2004, expressed scepticism about the merger's potential schedule due to an already crowded calendar where major tournaments are the priority for top players. Speaking about the challenges of too many events, Rose, the 2013 US Open winner, struggled to envision a successful merger.
"That's why I find it - I can't quite see what the future is in terms of us coming back together because I think you're still limited to the fact that there's only a certain amount of weeks that the top players want to play, that's going to fit their schedule," Rose said when asked if the current golf schedule is too saturated.
Rose, who clinched Olympic gold in 2016, pinpointed 22 tournaments as the ideal annual number for leading golfers. He also implied that financial incentives wouldn't entice players to join events that clash with their meticulously planned schedules.
"So you can create this league, that league, this tour, supplement with this, but if it accumulates to 30 tournaments, you're still going to get players choosing, no matter how much money you put up, not to play," he added, reports the Mirror. "Because ultimately you're going to look at the four majors and go, okay, I need to be fresh, ready for these; this is my preparation; you have a family component to your life. All the other factors that come into play."
Despite his uncertainty, Rose insisted a plan to complete the merger to achieve the best product for the players and fans is something that they're "all trying to figure out".
"But obviously outside - there's many facets to golf that are interesting, for sure, and men's, ladies', whatever it might be, the 52 weeks of the calendar should be used in a smart way. There should be golf going on all the time, but there's different times when the focus can be on different parts of the game," Rose added.
