Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez don’t get mistaken often, but when it does happen, controversy follows.
It was reported Johnson took a dig by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan by the Australian Associated Press following LIV Golf’s tournament in Adelaide over the weekend.
“We don’t give a damn how he feels. We know how he feels about us, so it’s mutual,” the AAP claimed Johnson said about Monahan.
Johnson, while being one of the bigger names to defect to LIV Golf, has largely stayed out of the back-and-forth drama that has occurred between some on the rival tours.
That continues to be the case.
“I spoke with Dustin from Singapore this morning, at which time he emphatically denied making any such statement,” Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, said in a statement.
“He elaborated by saying his actual response to the question was ‘no comment,’ but mentioned that others interviewed may have answered differently.”
Perez, a teammate on his 4Aces GC squad, was actually the one behind the dig.
“DJ said nothing, it was all me,” Perez told SI.com, via text. “I said we don’t care what Jay thinks cause we know how he feels about us and when I say WE, I mean me. I can’t speak for the whole group.”
Johnson and Perez were celebrating the 4Aces’ victory in the team competition, shooting a cumulative 47-under between the four players.
Perhaps adding to the confusion, the inflammatory quote did not appear on the transcript of the press conference provided by LIV Golf.
“We are trying to avoid that kind of hostility in our press conferences,” Jane MacNeille, LIV’s SVP of Player Communications, told SI.
“The question created an eruption of chatter and everyone said ‘no comment’ but one player (Perez) and it was indiscernible as it was kind of a chaotic scene. So we decided to remove it from the transcript.”
Patrick Reed and Peter Uihlein are the other two members of the 4 Aces.
“I know that Jay doesn’t ever want to see me again,” Perez said of his relationship with the PGA boss, who banned LIV Golfers from playing PGA Tour events after they defected.
LIV Golf will tee off in Singapore this week.