Chris DiMarco says senior pros aren’t paid enough, LIV Golf should buy Champions tour

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[PHOTO: Al Messerschmidt]

Chris DiMarco spent much of his PGA Tour career playing second fiddle. He finished runner-up at the 2004 PGA Championship, 2005 Masters (playing in the same group as Tiger when his legendary chip on the 16th hole fell) and the 2006 Open Championship. On Wednesday, however, DiMarco finally got his turn as golf’s main character after comments he made on an episode of the Subpar Podcast.

Speaking on the state of the PGA Tour Champions, DiMarco said the quiet part loudly:

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions tour. Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean, this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC [Sawgrass, at the Players Championship, which had a $US25 million purse) that made more money than our purses.”

Needless to say, DiMarco’s bold call for “real” money for senior golf was met with raised eyebrows across the industry.

DiMarco’s career earnings on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions are somewhere in the ballpark of $US25 million. If that’s a “joke”, then DiMarco must have a very strange sense of humour. With even marquee events like the Players Championship struggling for TV ratings, DiMarco’s calls for growth for niche products like the Champions tour clang louder than ever. Perhaps this is just another instance of an old guy shouting at a cloud, but if DiMarco really thinks the Saudi PIF is going to swoop in and save senior golf now, then we have a patch of prime Arabian desert to sell him.