Eddie Pepperell: Prize money has ‘eroded’ professional golf

Eddie Pepperell doesn’t mince his words about falling out of love with golf.

The popular DP World Tour pro believes prize money has ‘eroded’ a lot of what is good at the top of the men’s game since Saudi-funded LIV Golf’s emergence in 2022.

Pepperell, who also plays on the Hotel Planner Tour, told the NCG Golf Podcast that prize money has become ‘a bigger part’ of the game now and has previously criticised players who defected to LIV, leaving the established tours supposedly for huge financial benefit.

His opposition to the new circuit manifested in spats on Twitter, now X, with defector Lee Westwood and, on occasion, admitting his friendship with fellow tour player Laurie Canter suffered.

Eddie Pepperell: Money doesn’t drive me, and it never has

“There’s always been money, there’s always been the degree of fame, there’s always been high performance, never more so than when you have somebody like Tiger Woods doing what he did,” Pepperell told the NCG Golf Podcast.

“But I would say that it is probably unequivocally the case that over the last few years, money has become a much bigger part of that picture.

“This may just be me, that isn’t something that drives me and it never has done. Therefore, it was inevitable that I was going to fall a bit more out of love with that endeavour. There was the desire to want to get back to the top of the game.”

Pepperell is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, but lost his card in 2024. Having reached the heights of contending at The Open in 2018, the Players Championship in 2019, and also playing at the Masters, he now circulates what used to be called the Challenge Tour.

Given his gripes with the game’s climate that saw the PGA Tour forced into financial warfare and increasing purses to compete with LIV, Pepperell told NCG Golf Podcast host Tom Irwin that his drive to reach his peak again has ‘diminished’.

“At the same time, that also reflects my experiences, having travelled a lot to America and really not loved that experience, even though I did okay at times. It’s not a country that I love going to. I much prefer travelling to Europe,” he added.

“That’s a big factor in the fact of some people that have decided to go and play LIV. I don’t think that it’s all about money. I’ve softened some of my views on LIV and all that. I’ve probably softened over time on why people went. From my own perspective, in terms of motivation and ambition to get back to the top, it’s much diminished.

“I tweeted a pretty demoralising tweet a few years ago, saying something like my love and respect for professional golfers has really fallen. I feel that, and if you’re in that industry, it’s very difficult.

“That’s a difficult relationship to have with your sport. You don’t have to love something to be great at it, but I fundamentally think you have to respect it. And I respect the top end of professional golf less than I used to, for sure.”

LISTEN TO THE NCG GOLF PODCAST

ALSO AVAILABLE ON:

Apple Podcasts: Listen Now

Spotify: Listen Now

Amazon Music: Listen Now

Eddie Pepperell: ‘Mickelson is fascinating, but disruptive’

Irwin pondered if a ‘charade’ had been exposed in the game whereby the players’ sole focus has always been money, but maybe never as clear as now, with players such as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson accepting reported nine-figure fees to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV.

“The exposure of the charade is spot on. That’s why in life sometimes, some things are best left hidden, even if the underlying motivations aren’t pure,” Pepperell added.

“If you don’t know that, you don’t care for it and once you get that exposure, which we’ve clearly seen in golf, and I think it’s been egregious at times.”

Mickelson was one of the first stars to join LIV Golf and has played in the new league since the very first event at Centurion Club in June three years ago.

This decision came one year after winning his sixth major at the PGA Championship, and a matter of months after making controversial comments about the Saudi Arabian regime, which is bankrolling LIV.

Despite the excellence we have seen in golf around the unrest from the likes of Woods and Scottie Scheffler, Pepperell believes the image of Lefty with his hands around a pile of cash, after he beat Woods in a pay-per-view money match in 2018, represents golf in 2025.

“It’s been unfortunately promulgated by the likes of Phil Mickelson. My view of Phil is interesting because I’ve played with Phil and I find his presence in the game to be a fascinating one, very disruptive and not all for the best at the moment, but quite a career,” he said.

“I loved playing with Phil. He was such an endearing character. I’ve always found him that. I remember walking up one hole and talking about the shirts that he was wearing, because he was wearing those long-sleeved William Dove shirts at the time.

“He had me touching his shirt and talking about the fabric. So eccentric. Reminds me a lot of Padraig Harrington in a good way.

“Everything else that’s occurred, it’s seen a different side of him. The money side of him – (There’s) been that image where he’s playing the match with Tiger and he’s got his arms around $10 million.

“That to me is the image that epitomises professional golf.

“If you were to ask me, what’s the one image? I don’t think of Tiger winning the Masters in 2019. I don’t think of Scottie in his performances. I think of Phil in that picture.

“That may just be me, but that’s a shame because it has eroded a lot of what else is good about the top of men’s professional golf.”

Now have your say?

What do you think of the Eddie Pepperell Mickelson comments, and do you agree with the Eddie Pepperell Mickelson comments? Let me know at m.chivers@nationalclubgolfer.com and on X, and let us know what else we could talk about on The NCG Golf Podcast.

NOW READ: What’s in Phil Mickelson’s bag?

NOW READ: Eddie Pepperell: Phil Mickelson has ‘practically tarnished’ his legacy