The ‘authority’ of the USGA and R&A exists in name only and survives only by the good grace of the golfing community.

It’s an accepted authority and has been rock solid for several generations but in a golf world where events unthinkable just of a couple of years ago are now reality, it’s difficult to be confident that will remain the case.

The biggest and most obvious potential schism could occur with the professional game where the reaction to the announcement was overwhelmingly negative.

The PGA of America were lukewarm at best but, most importantly, non-committal on whether the PGA Championship would adopt the new ball. That is not an encouraging sign.

Among professional players, many questioned the bonafides of those in St Andrews and New Jersey to administer the game for its more skilled practitioners.

Justin Thomas was the most vocal of the group and regurgitated an age old line about ‘amateurs’ making rules for professionals while simultaneously raising the spectre of the Tour perhaps making its own rules.

“Why are this group of call it 5-to-15-handicapped amateurs determining the rules of golf for professional golfers or why are they saying that we have to do something?” Thomas said ahead of the Valspar Championship last week.

RIGHT: Justin Thomas floated the idea of the PGA Tour making its own rules in light of the announcement last week. PHOTO: Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images.

“So is it something where down the road where it’s like, you know what, then fine, if you want to change something based off of your data that we feel like is pretty biased and incorrect and self-centred to what you believe in, then maybe we’ll just create our own or we’ll do our own thing.

“So I don’t know where the Tour stands on that. I can’t speak on behalf of what they’re planning on doing.”

That last part is important because while it is true Thomas doesn’t speak for the Tour, what has become reality since the arrival of LIV is that he and his fellow top players unquestionably have more influence than ever before.

There are very good reasons the Tour have never been interested in the rules business before (hint: it’s messy and expensive and has precisely zero upside) but outside influences might change those reasons.

The arrival of LIV and the desire/need to keep top players at all costs might be a bargaining chip for manufacturers who sponsor those players to pressure the Tour not to adopt the restricted ball.

Unlikely? Yes. Completely out of the question? Not at all.

Also unlikely (laughable, actually, until they became reality) were the concepts of LIV Golf, a handicapped Tour Championship, PIP (Player Impact Program) and a closed shop of ‘Designated Events’ for the Tour’s top players.

Regular readers might remember a recent column which pointed to the musings of Irish sports historian Professor Paul Rouse during an appearance on the Firm and Fast podcast.

Rouse warned about the dangers of taking the status quo for granted in any sport and pointed to the Colosseum as a prime example.

"There are very good reasons the Tour have never been interested in the rules business before (hint: it’s messy and expensive and has precisely zero upside) but outside influences might change those reasons." - Rod Morri.

Once filled with hundreds of thousands cheering on chariot racers who were the superstars of their time, it would be incomprehensible to any who had been there to see what it has become.

Similarly, had you been to the Australian Masters at Huntingdale any time in the 80’s or 90’s and suggested the tournament would no longer exist by 2016, you may have needed security to escort you out.

The point is that what seems certain in one generation can end up being just a distant memory for the next and for the first time in this writer’s lifetime the authority of the governing bodies may be about to be put to the test.

(For what it’s worth I don’t see the power structure of the game changing but I do think it’s important to acknowledge the possibility and so be prepared if it looks like it might happen.)