Earlier this week, commissioner Jay Monahan suspended PGA Tour players who participated in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event outside of London for an unspecified time, a group including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
On Sunday, during the CBS telecast of the final round of the RBC Canadian Open, Monahan didn’t backtrack on his decision.
In other words, expect more suspensions for players who join LIV Golf.
“It’s been an unfortunate week that was created by some unfortunate decisions, those decisions being players choosing to violate our tournament regulations,” Monahan said. “It’s my job to protect, defend, and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans. And that’s exactly what I did. And I don’t think it was a surprise to anybody. Given how clear I had been about how we were going to handle this situation.
“We made a decision last week to suspend those players, and they’re no longer eligible for tournament play. And that at this point is all we’re prepared to talk to. We’ll see how things continue to develop as we go down the road here.”
Monahan denied conflicting tournament releases for the players for the first LIV Golf event and the PGA Tour has never given a release to a player to play in a conflicting event opposite a domestic PGA Tour event.
When asked by CBS’ Jim Nantz why players can’t play both, Monahan responded quickly and decisively.
“Why do they need us so badly? Because those players have chosen to sign multi-year lucrative contracts to play in a series of exhibition matches against the same players over and over again,” Monahan said. “You look at that versus what we see here today, and that’s why they need us so badly. You’ve got true, pure competition. The best players in the world are here at the RBC Canadian Open, with millions of fans watching, and in this game, it’s true and pure competition that creates the profile in the presence of the world’s greatest players.
“And that’s why they need us. That’s what we do. But we’re not going to allow players to freeride off of our loyal members, the best players in the world.”
The rival league will have seven more events this year, each a 54-hole, shotgun start, no-cut, 48-man tournament with a team format. The next tournament will be in July opposite the John Deere Classic. Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez will join LIV Golf and play in Portland.
In addition to staggering signing bonuses – Mickelson reportedly received $200 million to sign, Johnson $125 million – LIV Golf will dole out $255 million in prize money. Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, won the inaugural LIV Golf event, his first title since 2016. Schwartzel pocketed $4 million for the victory and another $750,000 for being a member of the winning team.
The league is led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. Players have faced criticism for playing LIV Golf because of Saudi Arabia’s alleged human rights violations, which include the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“It probably is an issue for players that chose to go and take that money,” Monahan said about any ramifications players could face playing for Saudi Arabia. “And I think you have to ask yourself the question, why is this group spending so much money, billions of dollars, recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of a return? At the same time, there’s been a lot of questions, a lot of comments about growth of the game. And I asked, how is this good for the game that we love?”
Saudi Arabia is accused of sportwashing, which is the use of sports to distract from human rights abuses and legitimize oppressive governments.
“I talked to players. I’ve had a player meeting and I’ve talked to a number of players individually for a long period of time. And I think you’d have to be living under a rock to not know that there are significant implications,” Monahan said.
As for the PGA Tour’s future, Monahan is confident of improving times.
“We’re constantly evolving,” Monahan said. “And I couldn’t be more excited about where we go from here. We’ve talked about the fact that we’re going to grow faster over the next 10 years than we have at any point in our history.
“You look at this incredible group of young, talented, international or emerging members, playing at the highest level of the game to a cadre of supporters from our media partners, to our corporate partners, to our community partners.
“And additionally, I just look at life is all about meaning and purpose. And we’re an organization with meaning and purpose. And the best players in the world make wonderful things happen on this platform day in and day out. Week in and week out. And this organization is going to continue to evolve in the face and shape of the great members that we have here. And we’re going to continue to advocate and grow this game in the right way and continue to make meaningful contributions as an organization.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the future.”
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