'It Doesn’t Look Like A Sport Anymore; It Looks More Like A Business' - LIV Golf Critic Lorenzo-Vera Voices Frustrations

One of LIV Golf's fiercest critics, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, has voiced his concern that golf is too much of a business and is losing it's touch with the history of the sport.

The Frenchman, who also explained his anger towards the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter joining LIV Golf, says he's nostalgic about some of the older events on the then European Tour.

With the vast sums of money being thrown around recently as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf do battle, Lorenzo-Vera says: "I think there’s a lot of bulls*** about what apparently works now."

The 38-year-old feels the modern game in general over the last few years is heading too much towards a money grab and getting away from the history, tradition and values of the sport.

"It doesn’t look like a sport anymore; it looks more like a business," Lorenzo-Vera told The Scotsman's Martin Dempster.

"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." 

Lorenzo-Vera also explained that his initial anger towards the likes of Westwood, Poulter and Sergio Garcia after their acrimonious split from the DP World Tour was due to them being players he looked up to.

"I was angry at guys like Lee [Westwood], Sergio [Garcia] and Ian Poulter for going to LIV Golf because they had been my idols," he added. "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.”

And with LIV Golf, PGA Tour Signature Events and other new initiatives handing out huge sums of money, Lorenzo-Vera is not a fan of some new ways of thinking in golf.

“There’s a new way of seeing things, which I’m not a super fan of, to be honest," he said. "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.”

A fan of golfing history, Lorenzo-Vera says he loved some of the old European Tour events even if he accepts modern players and modern golf has to adapt.

“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.