This thought has been front of mind for me in recent weeks having had the privilege to sit with Thomson’s widow, Mary, for a lengthy chat late last year for our The Thing About Golf podcast.

Despite having had scandalously little knowledge of Mary prior, it was no surprise to discover an extraordinarily dignified and intelligent woman whose devotion to Peter is still evident.

It would be fair to suggest that nobody knew the great man better than Mary and her insights into what made the five-time Open champion ‘tick’ were fascinating.

Among the topics we discussed – albeit briefly – was money and Peter’s attitude to it in the context of where the game is today.

According to Mary, Peter “never, ever worried about money once we were married, that was all left to me”.

“I can remember one of the letters that I was going through and he’d won a tournament in Asia and he was very excited because he’d won $300,” she said with a laugh.

"Thomson himself never accepted money simply to tee up in a tournament and the notion of a league where players are paid ‘sign-on’ fees seems unlikely to have met with his approval." - Rod Morri.

Asked what he might think about recent developments in the game and in particular the emergence of LIV golf, Mary felt certain he would not have been in favour.

“I think he’d be a bit sad about that actually,” she said.

“As I said earlier, he wasn’t so much into the money so I don’t think he’d approve of the LIV thing, particularly where the money is coming from and the human things that go on there.”

Of course, it’s impossible to know with certainty since Peter himself is no longer with us but what is a matter of record is his long standing and staunch opposition to appearance fees.

Thomson himself never accepted money simply to tee up in a tournament and the notion of a league where players are paid ‘sign-on’ fees seems unlikely to have met with his approval.

None of which will have any bearing on the success or otherwise of the Greg Norman led venture, of course, but in trying to figure out one’s own position on what is quite a complex issue, it can be helpful to look to others for guidance.

Not being a supporter of the LIV concept personally (predominantly because of the source of the funding but also because I don’t feel the model serves the game best) I was interested to hear Mary’s thoughts on what Peter’s position would be, especially in light of the TV deal announced last week.

That news suggests LIV golf continues to inch towards a legitimacy that many (me included) felt unlikely this time last year.

While not the triumph being heralded by CEO Greg Norman, it is unquestionably a step forward for the fledgeling circuit.

Having any coverage on a US TV network after a year of YouTube only accessibility is a step in the right direction though it remains a long way from having an actual and meaningful audience.

Simply being on TV doesn’t mean people will watch and the real hurdle for LIV now is to convert network presence into eyeballs on the product.

How they go about that will be fascinating to watch, something Thomson would no doubt have found intriguing as well.