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PGA Tour pro James Hahn says battle against LIV Golf is 'tearing the game apart'

James Hahn in action - May 2022

Two-time PGA Tour winner James Hahn has joined the chorus of voices calling for end to hostilities between golf's traditional powers and the breakaway LIV Golf tour.

Hahn was responding to a less-than-generous comment from golf writer Alan Shipnuck, who took aim at PGA Tour player Kevin Na after the American was pictured hooked up to a machine and laying on the ground while battling flu-like symptoms.
"Kevin Na lives in Las Vegas," Shipnuck wrote on Twitter. "If he was still a PGA Tour member, he could have played his hometown event last week. Instead, he flew to Bangkok and got wrecked, and is still feeling the effects. How do you say schadenfreude in Arabic?"
Why did Shipnuck take pleasure in Na's pain? Because he was playing at last week's LIV Golf Invitational event in Bangkok, and Shipnuck clearly felt no sympathy for an enemy in golf's ongoing civil war.
Hahn took exception to the comment, however, and hit back at Shipnuck.
"Conveniently left out the PGA Tour is playing in Japan this week," he wrote. "He could have been playing in Japan, gotten sick and got paid $100k less than LIV. I'm sure he's not regretting his decision Alan, though you might think so."
Asked by an onlooker why he seemed to have bitterness towards the PGA Tour despite being a member himself, Hahn made it clear his problem wasn't with the tour but people like Shipnuck eager to inflame tensions.
"I love the PGA Tour, period," he hit back. "Just can't stand the anti-LIV narrative. It's tearing this game apart. And most reporters are adding fuel to the fire just for clicks and likes."
Shipnuck then replied that his tweet was about "jilting your hometown event but I guess it was too subtle".

Either way, Hahn doesn't seem to see any good guys or bad guys in this current war and didn't appreciate the jibe at Na, LIV golfer or not.

The South Korean-born American is one of four player directors on the PGA Tour's nine-voting member Policy Board, but was the only player to cast a dissenting vote on the recent changes introduced to combat the LIV Golf Tour.

Speaking to Golfweek about his reasoning, the 40-year-old seemed to suggest that money was doing all the talking - and it all seemed to be heading in the same direction.
"Certain changes were made to combat the LIV Tour, not necessarily make our Tour any better," he said.
"It seems like the people who have the most influence of how much money is distributed to the top players in the world have a much stronger voice now than they've ever had.
"I understand the reasoning that the money is used to keep top players and without them, we have no Tour. My question to them is when is it enough? We've gone from $50 million to $100 million. When $100 million isn't enough, will they ask for $200 million? How will that impact our business?"
It's a good question, but one without any clear answers at this stage.

And so, golf fans continue to be subjected to one of the most unedifying displays in modern sports history, as some of the richest athletes in the world go to war over who can pay them even more than they already have.

It's a war that seems to benefit no one but themselves but has everyone choosing sides all the same.
And while it might never be enough for the players, maybe it soon will be for the game's fans.

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