Love: 'The nuclear option is that we won't play'

This week we entered the gloomy world of talk of litigation over where the LIV Golf players can and can't play, now there is even talk of the PGA Tour players boycotting tournaments to stop them returning to the Tour.

Davis Love III is a major champion and two-time Ryder Cup skipper so therefore carries plenty of clout, he is also a PGA Tour stalwart having won The Players twice in among his 21 victories on Tour.

Last week he was pretty clear cut on how he saw things playing out if the LIV Golf players were able to tee it up again on the PGA Tour, cherry picking the better additional events on top of their new-found riches.

"If a group of veterans and a group of top current players align with 150 guys on the Tour, and we say, ‘Guess what? We're not playing,’ that solves it, right? If LIV guys play in the US Open, we’re not playing," Love said last week. "If they sue in court, and they win, well, we’re not playing. You know, there won't be a US Open. It's just like a baseball strike."

This week, with some time to reflect on those comments, the veteran wasn't backing down.

"The whole situation is unfortunate. I didn't try to single out the US Open as the players striking or threatening not to play," he said. "I was saying that if the LIV guys sue and are allowed to play on the PGA Tour, that the players are enough fed up with it, we understand that we make the rules on the PGA Tour and the commissioner's enforcing our rules and we don't want those guys playing, come and cherry picking our tournaments, that we hold all the cards, not Jay or not Seth Waugh or Mike Whan. They don't hold all the cards, we hold all the cards.

"If we say to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and to Washington, no, we support the rules, we don't want those guys playing, we don't care what the courts say, our only option really, the nuclear option is to say, well, fine, if they have to play in our events, we just won't play. I think the Tour players, the Max Homas and Rory McIlroys have done a good job. I think the undercurrent of guys are getting more and more fed up with it, that these guys are threatening our way of life, they're trying to take money out of our pockets and cherry pick our best tournaments.

"The Majors have to make their own decisions. I loved what Martin Slumbers said, I think they're all going in the right direction, but the PGA Tour players, we support the PGA Tour and we support the rules and we need to stand up for them."

Any decision to boycott an event would require action among the Tour’s 175 card-carrying members which would be some effort to pull together but these, as we've learnt in recent months, are extraordinary times.