Green makes golf go.
And it’s not simply all that grass.
Greenbacks are all over the place.
They exist within the type of a $5 Nassau, an $18 million prize received by Rory McIlroy for capturing the FedEx Cup final Sunday or the $2 billion backing the LIV Golf Series courtesy of Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund.
Family members who misplaced family members on 9/11 have been essential of LIV because it arrived on America’s shores in June. The International in Bolton performs host to LIV Golf’s touring circus beginning Friday. The 9/11 households are making their voices heard once more.
They can’t be purchased. Everyone else concerned within the LIV Golf-PGA Tour saga has a worth.
Dustin Johnson obtained $125 million to signal with the Saudi-backed golf circuit. That was greater than anybody – together with Tiger Woods – ever earned on the PGA Tour.
Phil Mickelson all the time appears to be brief regardless of incomes greater than $925 million on and off the course over the previous 30 years. Lefty snagged an extra $200 million to affix LIV.
Then there’s Woods.
Greg Norman and House of Saud provided Tiger $800 million to affix the LIV’s Pirate Ship/Billion-Dollar Luxury Yacht. The Shark even tried to lure Jack Nicklaus for $100 million. But neither certainly one of golf’s blue whales would chunk. Tiger joined forces with McIlroy to rescue the PGA Tour. They additionally introduced a brand new digital professional golf league that gives assured cash and can function a Tour complement starting in 2024.
The PGA Tour banned LIV members. But golf’s 4 majors (The Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship) have their very own ruling our bodies. None have adopted the Tour’s lead.
The PGA Tour added $100 million to its Player Impact Program. It rewards the preferred gamers with further winnings. The purse for a dozen “elevated events” was additionally boosted by $46 million beginning this upcoming season.
Unless the PGA Tour relents, there shall be some large names lacking the sprint for its money.
Tuesday, Australia’s Cameron Smith decamped the PGA Tour for LIV. Smith is the No. 2-ranked participant on the earth. His departure stings as a lot because the defections of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, or Johnson. Smith is 29 and received The Open Championship and Players in 2022.
Eleven LIV gamers, led by Mickelson, filed an antitrust lawsuit in opposition to the PGA Tour in August. PGA Tour Commissioner and Belmont native Jay Monahan has blasted the LIV defectors.
Monahan has greater considerations. In July, we discovered the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the Tour over potential LIV-related antitrust violations. Three days later, President Biden was in Saudi Arabia fist-bumping the Saudi crown prince earlier than beseeching the Kingdom to provide extra oil.
Quid Pro Joe? You resolve.
Renegade leagues hardly ever final. Through litigation, or persuasion from the heavy hand of presidency, the PGA Tour will finally finish its LIV ban. More PGA Tour cash will reduce LIV’s attractiveness. The LIV schedule is simply too sporadic and restricted to generate sustainable buzz. Oddsmakers have already seen a drop in betting motion.
The 9/11 households stand on righteous floor when criticizing LIV. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers had been Saudis. Saudi Arabia was al-Qaeda’s personal ATM machine.
The PGA Tour, nonetheless, doesn’t. Norman claims the PGA Tour has “23 sponsors who do $40 billion-plus worth of annual business on an annual basis in Saudi Arabia … The hypocrisy in all this, it’s so loud. It’s deafening.”
In October of 2021, FedEx (the identical firm whose identify is on the PGA Tour’s championship cup) touted a $1.5 billion growth in … Saudi Arabia.
Ouch.
Worse, the PGA Tour has partnered with the Chinese Communist Party to launch its personal collection in China. The Tour cease in Shanghai has been scrubbed for 3 years on account of COVID-19. There has been no speak of a everlasting cancellation if/when the pandemic ever abates in its homeland.
Golfers lastly have a selection, no matter how distasteful its origins. LIV’s Golf final legacy may properly be a extra profitable, aggressive and fan-centric PGA Tour. One that finally makes LIV irrelevant.
Not fairly what its founders needed.
But a tiny slice of justice to these 9/11 households.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF) could be reached at [email protected]
Source: www.bostonherald.com”