“No amount of money… can make me give up on my dreams” - Will Zalatoris' stance on moving to LIV Golf

US golfer Will Zalatoris has been a force to reckon with on the international scene. Finishing as the runner-up at his debut Masters and his phenomenal victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August this year, the 26-year-old is well on his way to enter the league of greats.

With the kind of leverage he has built, he can easily switch to the controversial LIV Golf series from the PGA Tour and receive a lucrative signing deal on a platter. However, the young star surely doesn't want to jump ship. Will Zalatoris spoke about why he would never leave the PGA Tour despite the leverage he has in an interview with Graham Bensinger in September this year.

"That's what people ask me, 'Shouldn't you be a prime candidate to go to LIV because of the situation of your first year on tour where you couldn't be a part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs?' And I said, 'Guys, I haven't won yet, and I've made more than $10 million on tour.'"

Will Zalatoris made a very insightful point regarding the monetary advantages that the LIV Golf players are supposedly enjoying. He said that the money is more but it's not life-changing.

"If I sat there and said I feel like I’m under-compensated as a PGA Tour pro, what does that say about me? The money that these guys are given right now, it’s just more money. It’s not life-changing money, it’s just more."

He also added a reference to the tour study that stated how well the PGA Tour will pay its golfers moving forward.

"We looked at the projections, and in 2025, you might make $3 million and not keep your card. How can you argue with being underpaid at that point? I think that the more and more that we talk in terms of how we can make the PGA Tour better, the more and more transparent it is, to me, that it’s the best job in the world."

However, the highlight of his opinions on LIV Golf was his reason as to why he would never defect to the Saudi-backed league. Will Zalatoris said that he never played golf for the money, so no amount of it can ever sway him from his dreams.

"I've never done this for money, ever. If the US Open had a $100,000 purse, I'd still show up to the US Open... I'm in this to go win a major – that’s my career goal. There's no amount of money that I would give to trade that for a trophy. There's no amount of money, to me, that can make me give up on my dreams."

---

"My guess is that we'll probably be able to do both"- Will Zalatoris on the PGA Tour v/s LIV Golf

Will Zalatoris at the 2022 Presidents Cup - Day One (Image via Getty Images)

Currently, golf is experiencing a civil war like never before with the introduction of the controversial LIV Golf series this year. The launch of the Saudi-backed league has caused a division in the pool of players in the circuit. Several notable players, including Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Dustin Johnson amongst others defected to LIV Golf.

Will Zalatoris spoke about players who had defected during the interview with Graham Bensinger in September this year.

He said:

"If you look at the guys that have gone... no disrespect to them at all, but a lot of them are older, or they've been injured or they've been on the road for 20-plus years and they don't wanna do it anymore and they wanna play for a couple more years and get a nice nest egg and call it quits."

The golfers who defected to the breakaway series were banned by the PGA Tour from participating in its events. While the debut season of LIV Golf wrapped up recently, there is no concrete answer as to what will happen in the PGA Tour v/s LIV Golf battle in the future.

Will Zalatoris could only take a guess at it and he thinks the golfers might be able to play on both the tours one day.

"I don’t know the answer. My guess is that we'll probably be able to do both. I'm still through and through PGA Tour though."

Well, his guess could be as good as any. But one thing is for sure: Will Zalatoris has a bright future ahead of him. He will be seen in action at the Hero World Challenge organized by Tiger Woods in Albany, Bahamas from November 28 to December 4. The golfer will have some tough competition to beat and it goes without saying that the tournament will be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.