The professional golf world is in the middle of a very messy and public dispute with huge financial implications.
On Thursday in London, 17 of the world’s top golfers, including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, participated in the first event of the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
Even though 10 of these 17 players had already formally resigned from the PGA Tour, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan immediately banned them from future PGA events as soon as the London event started. However, LIV players can still compete in the four major golf tournaments, which are not controlled by the PGA.
“These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,” Monahan said in a statement. “But they can’t demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you. The expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners.”
LIV Golf responded quickly, saying, “It’s troubling that the tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing.”
Like many divorces, money is at the core of this issue.
The LIV tour, which will hold eight events, is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, controlled by members of the Saudi royal family, which has about $600 billion in assets. The LIV tour offers $25 million in prize money per tournament, which is far greater than even the largest purses on the PGA Tour.
In addition, LIV has offered huge appearance fees to lure top players to join the new tour. Johnson and Mickelson reportedly received $150 million and $200 million, respectively, before even playing a single round.
This division in golf is also evident at the RBC Canadian Open, one of the oldest PGA Tour events, taking place this week in Toronto. This is the first PGA event to compete directly with LIV Golf.
Before the event even began, RBC lost Dustin Johnson, its main spokesperson, when he switched to the LIV tour.
Despite LIV’s arrival, tournament officials highlight the strong field of top players and good ticket sales as proof that the PGA Tour is still going strong.
“You want to watch the best players in the world, especially some of the best young players in the world. They’re here in Canada. They’re here in Toronto,” said RBC Canadian Open tournament director Bryan Crawford.
At the same time, some players are concerned about how this money-driven tour could change the future of golf.
“Any decision that you make in your life that’s purely for money usually doesn’t end up going the right way,” said four-time major winner Rory McIlroy. “I think it’s a shame that it’s going to fracture the game.”
Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet, who played for over a decade on the PGA Tour before retiring, said it will be hard for many players to resist money that has never been offered in golf before.
“There’s a lot of ethical and moral questions regarding where the money is coming from but guys make their own decisions and, when that cheque is dangled in front of your eyes, I mean it makes things a little more difficult,” DeLaet said.
As DeLaet points out, this is about more than money and golf. It’s also about politics.
LIV Golf’s backing by the Saudi regime has led to renewed attention on the country’s poor human rights record, including the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Before the London event, players like Mickelson tried to keep the worlds of golf and politics separate.
“I’m certainly aware of what happened with Jamal Khashoggi and I think it’s terrible,” Mickelson said. “I’ve also seen the good that the game of golf has done throughout history, and I believe that LIV Golf is going to do a lot of good.”
LIV player Graeme McDowell also rejected the idea that by joining the Saudi-backed tour, he was excusing the regime’s actions.
“I think as golfers, if we tried to cure geopolitical situations in every country in the world that we play golf in, we wouldn’t play a lot of golf,” he said.
Some argue that for many golfers, who have already made a fortune, this should be about more than just the money offered by LIV Golf.
Cheri Bradish, a sport marketing professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, believes that golfers who turn down LIV’s offers may be the long-term winners in this battle.
“If you want to think about keeping your partners, doing your speaking gigs and still having relationships commercially and people will argue with $150 million, you don’t need those,” Bradish said. “But you want to believe in this society that sports figures will understand that they can and could and should do very good things with the platform that they have.”
