Morning Read Mailbag: Many Sides of David Feherty's Move to LIV Golf

The LIV Golf Invitational Series has dominated golf news for months, but the story of broadcaster David Feherty's move to the startup league seemed to touch a nerve with golf fans just as much if not more than the news of many players' decisions.

Readers' emails started to arrive after Monday's New York Post report, then reached a fever pitch with "Media Buffet" columnist John Hawkins' piece, "David Feherty Is Leaving NBC For LIV Golf, and That's No Laughing Matter."

Below are a number of those letters. As always, your letters about any topic in golf are welcome at inbox@morningread.com. Include your name and hometown for your letter to be considered for publication. And click here to receive all the latest SI.com/Morning Read news and commentary free in your inbox every morning.

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I want to say up front I love David Feherty. I will continue to love his work, except I will not be watching it. My heart is a little broken. If he was told by NBC that his contract was not being renewed, I understand the move but don’t accept it. 9/11, mass executions and killing reporters, how far away could that possibly be to David Feherty? I guess not that far.

Donald Nagle
Oviedo, Florida

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Super tired of the negative writings of the LIV Tour. Get over it! They are here to stay and growing at an unprecedented rate. Their popularity from what these eyes witnessed in Portland, Oregon, saw a fun, well organized and competitive event.

Why are your writers so afraid to report on “positive” aspects of what will be the future of golf? Why is everything I read blaming the Saudi regime on the current world? Why has no one pointed out the hypocrites such as our beloved Rory McIlroy and the huge amount of sponsorship he received to see his professional career become reality? How quickly has everyone forgotten his Saudi sponsors of the entre career into professional golf from the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai? They literally “made” him with their dollars to have a career, yet now, they are these “bad people.”

Shame on him and shame on your left-wing propaganda!

Let’s see the positive side of this new Tour, for a change!

Timothy J. Pade
Palm Desert, California

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I have mixed emotions concerning David's move to the LIV tour. For one, he is a fine man and the loss of a son is devastating, I know from experience. I can say I was sad when he left CBS for NBC, which I think has the worst sports coverage on the small screen. I wish him well and will miss his insight on the PGA Tour telecasts.

Ed Riley
Palm Bay, Florida

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Feherty is a played out property not bringing anything new to a broadcast. Dottie Pepper is quite a bit more interesting than he is.

I don’t think he adds anything to the LIV tour, perhaps he will have a big role with fan interaction.

If he can’t talk about Tiger, he doesn’t have much to say.

Tim Delaney
San Antonio, Texas

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I just don’t think a joke about murdering two elected officials is an expression of patriotism. Certainly it is an expression of fanatical partisanship, but partisanship isn’t tied so much to values as it is to tribalism and a desire to win by crushing the other side.

The through-line which might explain Feherty’s decision may be that: Partisanship - winning - taking a huge payday, which is, in the American capitalist ethos, often seen as winning.

I have no problem with that. This is no judgment of Feherty, and in fact I find the indignation over the LIV tour so overblown. I just don’t find his choice very shocking. 

Stephen Lane
Concord, Massachusetts

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Another sour grapes article. Fans appreciate the LIV telecasts because it is pure golf. We don’t see expensive cars coming into a parking lot. We don’t see players walking from parking lot to club house. We don’t see the never-ending interviews asking players about their game plan. All we see is pure golf, one shot after another. I applaud David’s addition to the broadcasts.

Spencer Rankin
Glen Allen, Virginia

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David Feherty has politically aligned himself with the far right extremism of the Republican party. The American GOP's support for fascism and despotic rulers has become a center point of modern “conservatism.“ It’s no surprise that Feherty was willing to sell his soul to the Saudis. It’s a pillar of American conservatism to worship money over your integrity.

Add into this that his violent rhetoric doesn’t sit well with a majority of Americans, and those it does aren’t the target audience of golf programming. More impactful on his falling popularity was that his shtick got old. He was becoming non-entertaining.

Mike Carey
Racine, Wisconsin

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First, I've always liked David for his unique and often humorous take on golf and golfers. At CBS and NBC he offered a bit of fun with his informed commentary. I won't speculate on his contract or reasons for his decision to join LIV as a broadcaster.

What is very disappointing however is his political comment regarding Pelosi and two bullets. With the daily gun death horror we see in the U.S., shooting someone is never a laughing matter. David may lean right in his political beliefs but the casual way that some of that persuasion suggest that shooting an opponent is a solution, is far too frequent of late. Comparison of a political figure who you disagree with to mass murderers like Osama Bin Laden is not funny and, unfortunately, recent events show that many are ready to act on the violent suggestions of others.

Maybe it's time we hear less from David and joining LIV may achieve that result.

Bob Burian
Doylestown, Pennsylvania

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It is a shame that your editorial resurrected David Feherty’s regrettable quote about U.S. soldiers shooting Nancy Pelosi and strangling Harry Reid. That was not the statement of a true patriot. It was the statement of a weak man posing for the culture wars.

Brad Lyerla
Sawyer, Michigan

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There was a day when anyone might’ve dreamed of a showing up at a pub near Royal County Down and finding themselves behind a pint and a sandwich with David Feherty. Sadly, that’s not the case anymore.

He’s entitled to whatever political beliefs he might have about his divided homeland or ours, but someone should ask him if he still believes it’s funny to make a joke about shooting an 80-year-old grandmother and public servant in an elevator. The freedoms being “threatened" here in America? You’re looking in the wrong direction, pal.

But maybe after two failed tries at settling in a country where he could co-exist with a variety of political leaders, he’ll become third-time lucky with Saudi Arabia.

Tom Cleary
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

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Saudi Arabia is “perhaps the most reviled nation on earth”? From whose perspective? North Korea, Iran, China, Russia and Venezuela are just a few of those expected to give Saudi Arabia a strong run. And if Feherty is mostly Republican, he would have no issue with the Saudis whatsoever — what am I missing here?

I am well past disappointed by the nonsense being hurled at Mickelson, DJ, etc., for joining LIV. Meanwhile, hundreds of America’s favorite companies are doing tons of business with Saudi Arabia. The NBA is in deep in China. And Rory and the PGA Tour want to call out players who are independent contractors for exercising their independence.

Just stop with this nonsense.

Jeff Becker
Reno, Nevada