By Rhonda
The PGA Commissioner, Jay Monahan, has made one thing crystal clear regarding the new LIV Golf Invitational Series, commonly referred to as the Saudi Golf League – THEM or US. There are no shades of gray here. In 2020, Monahan sent a loud gavel stomp to his players announcing that if this new league becomes a reality, “Our members will have to decide whether they want to continue to be a member of the PGA Tour or play on a new series.”
The SGL was backed by a number of former executives from the PGA Tour and other sports affiliations and became real in 2021, but Monahan has not budged. In 2022, The PGA Tour denied permission for its players to compete in the first LIV Golf Invitational at the Centurion Club in London where PGA legend and commissioner of the SGL, Greg Norman, promised a purse of $20 million with $5 million to the winning team. This has become an all-out war between Norman and the PGA.
BREAKING: In a letter sent out by LIV Golf Investments, the Saudi Golf League will commence according to commissioner Greg Norman.
The SGL was supposed to announce their official players field last week. pic.twitter.com/p1Ou9O3VAH
— THE Get In The Hole Podcast (@GetInTheHolePod) March 16, 2022
After the Tour denied its members who had applied for release (members are required to obtain releases for any non-PGA Tour events), Greg Norman fired back, calling the Tour an “illegal monopoly” as well as “anti-golfer, anti-fan, and anti-competitive,” escalating the battle and taking shots at the Tour’s mission and non-profit status.
Norman and those who applied were somewhat surprised because the PGA has traditionally granted those releases to one-off events like the Saudi International. BUT, the LIV is hitting a different chord in Monohan and the PGA. Though Norman has introduced this first event as the beginning of a “Series,” of eight one-off events requiring no yearlong commitments, that’s not how the PGA sees it. They see it as a threat. They seem to have determined that LIV’s plans for the future mean it should be treated differently than a one-off event.
“Tour members are not authorized to participate in the Saudi Golf League’s London event under our Regulations. As a membership organization, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the PGA Tour and its players,” wrote Tyler Dennis, PGA Tour senior vice president.
The PGA is protecting its territory and its brand – I get that. But, the PGA’s hardline stance, too, seems to run counter to its status as a 501c3 non-profit organization, where each of its tournaments is classified as a charity event – which is kind of a joke. Let’s be honest folks, that classification is there to provide the PGA with a series of tax breaks and prevents the tour from having to pay millions of dollars in taxes every year.
While Norman and company appear to be infringing on their sacred name, it has never been about competing with the PGA Tour in an effort to take it down. Norman says this series has been about coinciding with the PGA Tour. There are eight events scheduled for the first year, and five of them are in the U.S. Players who could play on both tours as independent contractors should be able to do so, but the PGA seems to want to control everything.
Is the PGA a monopoly? Seems as though they desire to be. Recently, three top PGA players proposed to Monahan an eight-event team series that would not involve the Saudis with an investor ready to spend $1 billion. When the PGA Tour realized it was not going to own and control those events, which would have been player and investor-owned, it quickly shut down the idea, but everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before the PGA adds its own team series. They have to have a better way to compensate players, especially top players, in response to the potential rival leagues, like the SGL.
Is Monahan a bully? He’s coming off that way. At the PGA Championship in March, Monahan addressed the Norman-led league and threatened sanctions against anyone who plays in it. Not sure that was a great look. Norman accused him of bullying players, and if you look at Phil Mickelson, who at that time was being publicly shamed for controversial comments he made about the PGA Tour and the Saudis, calling them “scary motherf******”, Monahan made it sound as if Mickelson was going to need to crawl back to him to ask for forgiveness before he would be welcome to play a PGA Tour event again.
Now, there is the other side and many players who stand behind the PGA – World No. 1 Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and the GOAT, Tiger Woods, who pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour at the end of 2021.
Statement on behalf of Dustin Johnson pic.twitter.com/731B4SmyQv
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 20, 2022
The Saudi golf league, after all, comes with a lot of controversies that cannot be denied. The PIF – the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, which, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, has $580 billion in assets, has been accused of numerous human rights violations. This is where ”sportswashing” comes into play. What’s that? This is a form of propaganda to distract the public from abuses. The most famous example of sportswashing is when Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics.
These accusations put Norman and any backers in a peculiar situation. Norman stated, “I’m not going to get into politics, I don’t know what the Saudi government does. I don’t want to get into that. Every country has a cross to bear. He further stated in reference to Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, “They’re not my bosses. We’re independent. I do not answer to Saudi Arabia. I do not answer to MBS.” Norman, however, said Saudi Arabia is undergoing “a cultural change” through golf.
Ethics and morals aside, should a high number of 35-and-younger players with popularity side with the Saudi-backed league, professional golf could transform into a bunch of rivaling governing bodies with conflicting financial interests.
Unfortunately, it looks like this is headed for a courtroom and big-time lawyers as Greg Norman promises the SGL will pay the fines of any rebel who risks sanction to join his controversial league. “They can fine you, ban you for life or temporarily suspend you,’ said Norman. “We have $2 billion backing us, we have an incredible legal team and we are still going to defend the rights of the players.” Sounds like war to me.
This is not the first time Norman has fought the PGA. In the early 1990s, he tried to start a breakaway World Golf Tour that, like the LIV Invitational Series, aimed to hold events in and out of the U.S. and offer guaranteed lucrative paydays. He lost that battle, but he believes this challenge will yield different results. See you in court.
Photo Credit: Tony Bowler
