'Imitation Is The Greatest Form Of Flattery' - LIV Golf On PGA Tour No-Cut Events

LIV Golf has given its take on reports, later confirmed, that the PGA Tour is introducing no-cut, limited-field events to some of its tournaments in 2024.

The dramatic changes to some of the PGA Tour's designated events bear similarities with LIV Golf's model, notably in the introduction of limited fields and removal of the cut. That has not been lost on the newer circuit. 

The official Twitter account for the Greg Norman-fronted organisation sent a cheeky message in response to the news that changes would be coming to the PGA Tour. It wrote: “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Congratulations PGA Tour. Welcome to the future.”

Each regular season event in the LIV Golf calendar is limited to 48 players and without a cut, and while the PGA Tour's plan will see fields in certain designated events limited to between 70 and 80 players, it's striking how closely it emulates the LIV Golf model.

The tongue-in-cheek tweet has echoes of an Instagram post of Norman’s from last year in response to unprecedented changes announced by the PGA Tour to combat the LIV Golf threat, including the introduction of designated events. The LIV Golf CEO posted a meme of himself and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to his account with the caption showing the PGA Tour boss asking: “Hey, can I copy your homework?” and Norman replying: “Sure, just make it look different so it doesn’t look too obvious”.

Meanwhile, around the same time, LIV Golf took credit for the PGA Tour changes in a statement saying: “LIV Golf is clearly the best thing that’s ever happened to help the careers of professional golfers.”

Earlier, LIV Golf player Lee Westwood, fired shots at the PGA Tour and its Strategic Alliance with the DP World Tour on Twitter, suggesting it favours the US-based Tour. After initially writing: "I’ve spent the last year reading how good full fields and cuts are!" he then followed up by writing: "So.. Do away with the WGC’s. Load the OWGR in your favour. Create 10 limited field events for just PGA tour members (like WGC’s). Add to that 4 majors, Players, FedEx cup. That’s a full schedule for a top player. That’s growing the game. What Strategic Alliance?"