The Professional Golfers Association Tour, which has rolled along with nary a serious hitch for nearly 100 years, has hit a huge pothole or, more accurately, a gigantic crevasse.
The PGA Tour, which brags it has provided $3 billion in charitable donations through the years, suddenly faces competition in the form of a Saudi Arabian-based golf entity with an apparent bottomless pit of money.
Funded by Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, which is fuelled by oil revenues reported to be $1 billion per day, the LIV Tour has been trying to establish a foothold by offering vast sums of money to established PGA Tour players. And it has worked. Phil Mickelson accepted $200 million to come on board; No. 15 in the world, Dustin Johnson, signed on for $125 million. Journeymen pros such as Kevin Na, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Charl Schwartzel, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have also jumped to the LIV tour.
With eight tournaments planned this year, four of them in the U.S., the LIV tour features 48-player fields, 54-hole tournaments (18 fewer than standard PGA Tour events) and shotgun starts, where golfers begin simultaneously, but on a different hole. Schwartzel won the inaugural event June 11 in England, cashing a cheque for $4 million, the highest winner’s purse in the history of golf. The next event is coming up in Portland, Ore., starting June 30.
Critics say the LIV Tour is merely an exercise in ‘sportwashing’ — a term used to describe efforts to sanitize a country’s image through sport. Saudi Arabia’s reputation for human rights violations, censorship, treatment of women, etc., is less than stellar and players who have taken the money and joined LIV have had to face media questions about the morality involved.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said those who play on the LIV Tour will be suspended and unable to compete in events such as the Ryder Cup, or regular Tour events. Not affected are the players’ eligibility for the four majors, which are not run by the Tour.
It comes down to money vs. legacy. The game’s best young players are, for now, staying with the PGA Tour, hoping to pile up victories they consider more legitimate than those offered by the LIV Tour, which is seemingly a rest home for the aging, over-the-hill players more concerned with their bank accounts than their historic position in the game.
Still, playing golf for what some call ‘blood money’ will undoubtedly tarnish the image of those involved. Said Monahan: “I would ask any player that has left, or any player that would ever consider leaving, ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’”
This is a fluid situation. More players will be lured by the fantastic gobs of money. As a result, the future of the PGA Tour could be in real jeopardy.
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