AUGUSTA, Ga. — Harold Varner III, one of the 18 players from LIV Golf competing at the Masters this week, unloaded on the Saudi-backed rival tour that’s paying him millions in guaranteed money.
Varner’s primary target was his issue with LIV’s claim that it wants to grow the game, an agenda that LIV Golf and its CEO Greg Norman has been pushing since it began last year.
“They’re full of s—. They’re growing their pockets,” Varner said in an interview with the Washington Post of his fellow LIV players. “I tell them all the time, all of them: You didn’t come here to f—ing grow the f—ing game.”
Harold Varner did not hold back with his gripes about his employer. REUTERSWhen Varner left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf last August, he said it was “too good a financial breakthrough” to pass up.
“The truth is, my life is changing,” he wrote in a statement posted in Instagram. “The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good of a financial breakthrough for me to pass by. I know what it means to grow up without much. This money is going to ensure that my kid and future Varners will have a solid base to start on.
“Your opinion of me may change because of this announcement. No lie, that’ll be a tough thing to deal with. But I haven’t changed – I’m still me. I promise you that.”
Varner joined the LIV Tour after initially opting to stay with the PGA. AP
Varner and his son Liam, whom he says he joined LIV for, in order to create generational wealth for. REUTERSHe said when he joined LIV it’s public relations officials sent him the same talking points, and he ignored them.
“I play golf so I can change the direction of my family’s life,” Varner said. “And that’s it.”
Varner, too, dispelled any notion that there would be any bad blood between LIV players and those from the PGA Tour.
“These f—ers aren’t mad,” he said of the PGA Tour players. “They’re just mad that you’re f—ing with their money. I think some people are jealous, and that’s just the way it is.”
