Jack Nicklaus takes swing at LIV golfers: 'I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore'

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Brooks Koepka’s win at the PGA Championship earlier this month kept LIV Golf and the competitors associated with the organization at the forefront of the sport, especially with the Ryder Cup around the corner.

Jack Nicklaus will host PGA Tour golfers at his Memorial Tournament this week sans those who jumped to the Saudi-backed series. It means 2018 Memorial winner Bryson DeChambeau won’t be at the Ohio course either. But for Nicklaus, all of that appeared to be just fine.

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Jack Nicklaus reacts to a putt during The Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills Golf And Country Club on Aug. 27, 2022, in Grand Blanc, Michigan. (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

"The Golden Bear" made his opinion clear, again, on what he thinks about those in LIV Golf.

"I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore. I don’t mean that in a nasty way. This is a PGA Tour event and we have the best field we can possibly have for a PGA Tour event for those who are eligible to be here," he said, via Golfweek. "The other guys made a choice of what they did and where they’ve gone and we don’t even talk about it."

He added: "There were certain players that it was probably the right thing for. But it wasn’t for me, it wasn’t for what my legacy was. Obviously, I pretty much started what the Tour is out here."

The Jack Nicklaus Award Recipients are announced at a press conference during the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 5, 2022, in Dublin, Ohio. (Chris Condon/PGA Tour)

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Nicklaus added that he didn’t think those who defected should be allowed to come back to the PGA Tour.

"No, I don’t. They’ve made a choice for what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. And that’s fine. I don’t have any issue with any of those guys," he added, via Sports Illustrated. "I see six or seven of them who are members at the Bear’s Club (Nicklaus’s Florida club). It’s not an issue. They get along with the guys fine. It’s just where they chose to play golf. And I look at what the PGA Tour is and who the members are.

"And they’ve actually spurred the PGA Tour to get better."

Billy Horschel receives the trophy from tournament host Jack Nicklaus after his four-stroke victory in the final round of the Memorial Tournament on June 5, 2022, in Dublin, Ohio. (Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

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Billy Horschel is the reigning Memorial champion. He beat Aaron Wise by four strokes in last year’s event. Patrick Cantlay won the event for the second time in 2021, beating out Collin Morikawa in a playoff.