Golf must calm the professional waters and bring an end to its civil war

The return this week of the US Open to the Country Club in Brookline for the first time since 1988 would ordinarily be a cause for reflection. The 1999 Ryder Cup there was laced with controversy after a ferocious European reaction to premature US celebrations.

There will be only passing reference to Curtis Strange’s playoff success over Nick Faldo. Sam Torrance and his famous broadside – “Tom Lehman calls himself a man of God. That was not the behaviour of a man of God” – likewise. Even the course setup presided over by the United States Golf Association, an annual debating point, feels irrelevant. Civil war dominates golf; it will dominate the US Open. It will dominate next month’s Open at St Andrews despite the R&A’s screams about the significance of a 150th anniversary celebration.

If there was any doubt about the polarised positions created by the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Series, recent days shattered that illusion. No sooner were shots hit at the Centurion Club than shots were fired from the PGA Tour’s Florida headquarters. The banning of 17 players is what the PGA Tour will regard as a proportionate reaction to dalliances with the Saudis, but it also emphasised the determination with which the sport’s ecosystem will attempt to defend itself.

Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, will sleep more soundly with the backing of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods et al, but it is worth noting Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau pledged their allegiance to Ponte Vedra not so long ago.

Those featuring in the LIV Series in Hertfordshire have been subjected to a level of attention and abuse that is totally alien to golfers. As the cost of living crisis takes hold, here are already well-paid sportsmen collecting