Padraig Harrington has raised question marks over the etiquette of those who compete over on the LIV Golf circuit having watched Jon Rahm and co return for last month's Masters.
Rahm and 12 other LIV stars competed at Augusta National in April, with the Spaniard returning as defending champion. Things did not go to plan for the 2023 green jacket winner though, as he ended the week 20 shots behind champion Scottie Scheffler in a tie for 45th at nine-over-par.
The two-time major champion's frustrations were seen throughout the week, especially across the opening two rounds on the Thursday and Friday, as testing conditions made the already gruelling Augusta challenge even tougher in the earlier stages.
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Most notably, Rahm let out an outburst on the 18th tee during round one after he missed the fairway right. The Legion XIII captain let out a whole host of expletives before trudging his way up the fairway to his errant tee shot. Rahm was not alone in his foul-mouthed rants though.
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His LIV Golf teammate Tyrrell Hatton was also caught dropping his guard by the TV microphones, having been heard dropping the F-bomb during his third round alongside Tiger Woods. Having made the Saudi switch earlier this year, both Rahm and Hatton were informed they would not be punished for swearing on the course - unlike the PGA Tour.
And having witnessed their choice of language at the opening major of the year, their former Ryder Cup captain Harrington appeared less than impressed. Harrington told the Rough Cut Podcast. "There was quite a bit of — on the Masters last week, there was an awful lot of extra expletives from LIV players.
Tyrrell Hatton joined LIV Golf earlier this year (Getty Images)"Clearly LIV players don’t get fined for expletives, and I’m not saying they’re encouraged, but they’re certainly not discouraged from doing it. So it was interesting that there was those players who might have held back in the past who are now LIV players were letting go fully.
“I don’t mind the odd bit of cursing and a bit of that, but it was a little — you know, you got to — there’s got to be some sort of restriction on it in some way. So that was interesting. I’m just saying that that’s not a big deal or anything.” The Irishman spent the majority of his career on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, and has since ventured out to the Champions Tour since turning 50.
Harrington revealed he prides himself on maintaining his etiquette levels whilst competing, and is hoping those on the Saudi-backed circuit do not continue to introduce bad habits into the professional golf. "Yeah, there’s no hold back on LIV on that and maybe, you know, that’s something that I don’t want to see going into the game," he added.
"I would have been very, very strong — and I still am strong on the etiquette of the game. And I wouldn’t break a club and I would certainly try not to curse or do any of that sort of stuff. But I’ve mellowed a bit that I don’t mind what any other player does as long as he doesn’t damage the golf course or affect his playing partners. So I have no problem If another player want to break 14 clubs, I’ll actually laugh at him.
'It’s no problem. But I’m not happy if he decides to smash up a piece of ground on the golf course, you know. So anything you want to do to yourself, well… that’s fine. And as I said, I think most players find it funny when we see another player losing the head. But there definitely has to be some moderation on it. There was a little bit too much of it.”
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