Studying history is obviously no guarantee of predicting what is to come but it can certainly inform possibilities those of us caught in the present are blinded to.

This was front of mind recently after two seemingly unrelated pieces of information grabbed attention.

The first was from a podcast called Firm and Fast where host Shane Derby interviewed Professor Paul Rouse about the history of the game in Ireland.

Towards the end of the discussion, Rouse made a point about the future of sport that has been bouncing around in my mind ever since.

“There is no guarantee of any future for any sport and if you doubt that look at the fact that the Colosseum in Rome was once a thriving sporting place,” he said.

“Nobody could ever see the end of that Colosseum and it turned essentially into being a relic of what it was. So, there are no guarantees.”

And this is where the second piece of information seeped into the consciousness. In a totally unrelated incident, Marc Leishman gave a pre-tournament interview to the Sydney Morning Herald’s Adam Pengilly ahead of the Australian PGA At Royal Queensland.

Naturally, LIV Golf was among the topics discussed including Leishman’s declining world ranking since joining the circuit and its impact on his eligibility to play Majors going forward.

"(Not playing the majors) was one of the things I had to weigh up when I did make the move (to LIV)," Leishman said in the interview.

"I’ve played at pretty much all the majors for the last 12 or 13 years. I’ve had my chances. Obviously, I want to play them, but I’m fine not playing them."

This would have been an unthinkable statement for a player of Leishman’s standing to make even a year or two ago and is testament to the disruption the Saudi backed LIV circuit has caused.

No matter what happens with LIV Golf and its players and the world rankings and eligibility for the majors, it has proved a stark reminder to the golf industry not to take things for granted.

Which is not to single out Leishman (whose candour is to be applauded) nor is it to suggest that the Majors are no longer important or about to disappear from relevance

But it is a reminder of the very salient point Professor Rouse made about the seemingly invincible nature of events like the ‘Impregnable Quadrilateral’.

Those who attended gladiator battles and chariot races at the Colosseum all those centuries ago could not have conceived of a world where that august structure would one day be a ruin.

And so, it is for a whole generation (or two) of golfers for whom it is impossible to consider a world where The Masters, US Open, PGA and Open Championship are not the pinnacles of the game.

Ultimately, things are only as important as we think they are and what we think is important can change over time, as it clearly has for Leishman.

No matter what happens with LIV Golf and its players and the world rankings and eligibility for the majors, it has proved a stark reminder to the golf industry not to take things for granted.