The PGA Tour initially rejected any alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), but The threat from LIV Golf prompted Jay Monahan and his colleagues to come forward
The PGA Tour is accused of “poisoning” the world of professional golf, after choosing to cooperate with Saudi Arabia’s Golf Public Investment Fund ( PIF) and LIV Golf.
The Tour has made no secret of its disdain for the Saudis’ involvement in the sport and their investment in LIV Golf. Professional golf fell into a state of civil war after LIV was founded, as the Tour tried to block PIF’s growing involvement in the game.
One person who knows the story between the two tournaments well is a golf journalist veteran Alan Shipnuck, whose recently released book “LIV & Let Die” delves into the controversies that have divided the sport in two.
In his findings, Shipnuck discovered that the PGA Tour has the opportunity to partner with the Investment Fund in 2021, before the Saudis have the opportunity to form the LIV of their future opponents. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been quick to bat away any PIF involvement, but it appears this would be a decision he would regret.
A year later the PGA Tour’s power at the top of the game had been compromised. The Saudi-backed league were able to trump the Tour’s prize money and entice in some of their biggest names, with the likes of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson lured across with lucrative signing on fees.
It was only in June of this year that the PGA Tour finally realised the threat the Saudi powerhouse posed, which led to them announcing a ‘framework agreement’ with PIF, that would see the Saudis directly involved in a organisation that would allow the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to work in unison for LIV Golf. For Shipnuck, the damage had already been caused by Monahan and co.
Discussing the Tour’s initial disdain for its Saudi rivals, he told Mirror Sport:
“Naiveness would be a kind way of putting it. It was ignorance, it was in denial and the Tour paid a heavy price for this. After two and a half hours of years of conflict, they negotiated with the Saudis, something they could have done before the launch of LIV.
“Before a group of their best players left, before poisoning professional golf in so many ways. So that was predictable.”
The PGA Tour itself admitted earlier this summer that it had no choice but to work with the PIF, with Tour director Jimmy Dunne telling US Senate that the US-based league “feared being destroyed” by growing Saudi involvement in the game.
For PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan, this appears to have been the plan all along.
Shipnuck added: “I think Yasir is a master tactician. “He knew LIV was going to create this pressure point and the Tour really didn’t have the money to counter it. Jay Monahan wrote a bunch of checks he couldn’t pay to his players promising big payouts.” This wonderful rich money.
“The rosy picture Monahan paints of the future notwithstanding, many sponsors will leave by 2024 before prices rise significantly, there will be an exodus.
Simultaneously there was going to be massive legal fees that running into nine figures for the Tour, so the Tour was going to run out of many and I think the Public Investment Fund knew this all along.”
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