Source: Chris Trotman/LIV Golf / Getty
One of golf’s newest tours is creating quite a sticky conversation.
Charles Barkley once again has everyone on the edge with his latest comments concerning the LIV Golf Tour. The NBA legend confirmed reports that he was in talks with the tour’s CEO PGA legend Greg Norman which led to many dropped jaws.
The entity is controversial because it’s backed by the Saudi Arabians who have unsavory human rights views, the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and foggy intelligence on how the country is tied to the September 11 attacks.
The inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event started June 9 in England, and it’s so contentious that no US television channel airs its rounds, so it can only be viewed on its website or streamed on Facebook and Youtube.
Now, Barkley hasn’t said he’ll participate in the tour, but he admitted on a recent episode of the Dan Patrick show that the payouts fellow golfers are cashing in are so astronomical that he had to hear them out.
“It’s been very stressful. I met with Greg. He asked me if I’m interested. I said, ‘Of course. I’m here. I wouldn’t have dinner with you if I wasn’t interested.’ I’m waiting for them to make me an offer. That’s all I know,” Barkley said. “But if those dudes (LIV) threw something crazy at me, I have to listen. And listen, I’m not going to get on here and say, ‘It’s not about the money.’ Of course it’s about the money.”
He admitted that the LIV organizers are offering guys up to $200 million to join their contemporaries on the fairway, so Patrick asked him what kind of bag it would take for him to leave his cushy job on TNT’s Inside The NBA.
“If they triple it…next time I’m on your show, the first question better be, ‘Charles, where we celebrating at tonight?’” Barkley said.
The LIV tour reportedly signed golf legend Phil Mickelson for a cool $200 million while people like Tiger Woods –who’s said to have been offered a “mind-blowingly enormous” deal– have refused to participate.
Instead, Woods wondered why other golfers would ever turn their back on the PGA which helped them earn their stripes.
You can view the entire Dan Patrick interview above where Chuck also talks about comparing NBA players from different eras.
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