Hey, LIV Golf. Charles Barkley Is Waiting for Your Call.

On a steamy day at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, which is hosting the third LIV Golf event starting Friday, Barkley sweated through questions about his potential involvement with the tour and then sweated through 18 holes in the pro-am tournament.

For now, Barkley, a former basketball star and widely popular hoops commentator on the TNT sports network, is only a guest of the tournament. He has had informal talks with Greg Norman, the chief executive of the LIV series, about joining as a commentator. But he said no official offer has been made, and he imposed a Friday deadline on the tour to do so.

“When I wake up in the morning, if they haven’t said anything, I’m going to say, ‘Guys, I’ll play in your pro-am whenever you want me to, if I’m available. But I’m going to go back to my job.’ I love my job and I don’t think it’s fair for them to keep holding on.”

The tour has already lured David Feherty, the former NBC golf analyst, to join its livestream. It does not even have a television contract yet. But Barkley, who has earned broad appeal with his rollicking, unedited, comedic approach to basketball analysis but has also been criticized for sexist jokes about women, would be an enormous boon for the fledgling golf tour.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/sports/golf/liv-charles-barkley-saudi.html