Mike Lorenzo-Vera says "business" brains now outweigh value of history in golf

Nostalgic Frenchman also blasts “bulls***” about what now apparently works in the game

Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera in action during last week's Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

One of the most vocal critics of LIV Golf over the past two years reckons top golfers have been turned into “businessmen”, expressing his view a few days before it emerged that Adrian Meronk seems to have signed for the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit and Tyrrell Hatton could be about to follow suit.

Pole Meronk, who was named the DP World Tour’s 2023 Players’ Player of the Year last week before finishing second behind Rory McIlroy in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, is reported to already have committed to join LIV Golf as a member of Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks team.

Hatton, a member of Europe’s triumphant team in last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome, said at the weekend in Dubai that, “as of right now”, he was staying with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, but it is now being claimed a deal for him to switch to LIV Golf is close.

The new LIV Golf season starts at Mayakoba in Mexico next week, when Masters champion and world No 3 Jon Rahm will make his debut on the circuit after his sensational move for a whopping $476 million in the off season.

“I was,” replied Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, smiling, after it had been mentioned to him by The Scotsman about him being a keen observer of LIV Golf, having been outspoken about the startup fronted by former world No 1 Greg Norman on more than one occasion.

Referring to the game in general during a chat at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, he said: “It doesn’t look like a sport anymore; it looks more like a business. Plenty of guys are making business decisions in golf now and I think it’s a very American way to see it.

“It feels like the historical part of the game has gone a bit. Maybe it’s because of a change of generation as well. I was angry at guys like Lee [Westwood], Sergio [Garcia] and Ian Poulter for going to LIV Golf because they had been my idols. At the end of the day, we need idols and guys who build golf through the years and I think this is what is now missing a bit.”

After losing his DP World Tour card at the end of the 2022 season before winning it back at the Qualifying School, Lorenzo-Vera is now competing in his 13th full campaign on the circuit. Though grateful for the opportunities he’s getting, the 38-year-old isn’t totally convinced about change being better.

“I’m nostalgic about the European Tour as it was,” he said. “It’s a new product we have now and I think the players have to adapt to that. Now I think the guys are building a new part of history with all the LIV stuff and all the talk of a global tour.

“But I loved the final [old season-ending Volvo Masters] in Valderrama with Colin [Montgomerie] and all of it. This is what made me practice and Tiger [Woods] as well, of course. I loved playing in Gleneagles. I loved playing in Celtic Manor. I loved playing Valderrama. I loved playing in the Irish Open at some old courses.

“There’s a new way of seeing things, which I’m not a super fan of, to be honest. I think there’s a lot of bulls*** about what apparently works now. But, at the end of the day, we have kids to feed and we have to adapt and play good golf.”