The battle for the dominance of competitive golf finally began on Thursday, when 48 players stood on the course at the Centurion Club in St. Albans, near London, to kick off the first official tournament of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, the most millionaire tour in the history of this sport.
What is LIV? The name comes from the Roman numeral 54, since most tournaments will be played over 54 holes, unlike the 72 on the PGA Tour. The tests will have 48 players, divided into 12 groups that will start at the same time with Pro Am-style starts and in which the purses of the first 7 tournaments will be 25 million dollars, with 4 million for the winner and 120,000 for the last one, with the news that there will be no court. The last tournament to be played at Doral, a field owned by Donald Trump, and the prize will be 50 million.
As can be seen, the money at stake is far from what is distributed on the PGA Tour and the difference is that on the US circuit the prizes are made up of sponsors who are associated with advertising in the competition, while on the LIV They come from the Sovereign Investment Fund of the Saudi Monarchy, a conglomerate chaired by Mohamed bin Salmán and which is said to have assets of the order of 620,000 million dollars. Thus, in matters of money, the American Tour has it well uphill.
Much is said about this tour, where iconic golf players are involved and unimaginable sums are handled, offered to direct it and to get players permanently. It is said that the executive address was offered to the ‘Golden Bear’ Jack Nicklaus, who, they say, put 500 million dollars on the table, which was not enough for his acceptance. The charge ended up in the hands of the White Shark, the Australian Greg Norman, former world number one, winner of two majors and member of the Hall of Fame, who already in 1994 had planned an alternative circuit to the PGA Tour that ended without an echo, but continued to be a sting.
Thus, this came to him like a glove and he began with the most important thing: trying to extract valuable players from the PGA Tour by offering them “the gold and the Moor”. From what has been seen, the Shark feels like a fish in water charging the PGA a debt that he considers pending.
Michaelson led the way
The first to set off the alarms was the greatest left-hander of all time: Phil Mickelson, who initially made some ill-advised statements that cost him the loss of sponsors and playing some tournaments.
After a long silence, Mickelson reappeared on Monday to say he believed LIV Golf could have a “transformative” effect on the sport. Winner of six majors and 57 tournaments throughout his career, he not only announced that he was joining the Saudi super league, but that he was going to be in the inaugural event.
In February, Mickelson had described the Saudi promoters of this initiative as “frightening sons of f…”, adding: “We know that they murdered (Jamal) Khashoggi (a columnist for The Washington Post) and that they have a terrible record. of human rights. They execute people just for being homosexual.”
However, he had also referred on multiple occasions against the PGA Tour for making decisions that went against the interests of the players. He also said that he would allow her to change his lifestyle.
“I am incredibly grateful for what this game and the PGA Tour have given me,” he said. “I fully realize and respect that some may disagree with this decision and have strong opinions and I sympathize with that. I have a renewed spirit,” he added.
“Phil said some things that many of us who feel committed to the PGA and its legacy disagree with,” Tiger Woods said a couple of weeks ago. And he ratified: “I have decided that I am going to support the PGA Tour. That’s where my legacy is. I have been lucky enough to have won 82 events on this Tour and 15 majors and I have been part of the World Golf Championships from start to finish. So I have an allegiance to the PGA Tour.”
The young player who won four majors, Rory McIlroy, also supported Tiger, saying: “That league is nothing more than a money grab.” The Spanish and recent number one in the world, Jon Rahm, said: “I don’t do this for the money. They throw numbers at you and that’s supposed to impress people. I’m in this game for the love of golf and for the love of the game and to become a champion.”
The current number 1 in the world, Scottie Scheffler, is another of those who have openly separated from LIV.
Politics is also strongly involved in this dispute, human rights organizations accuse Saudi Arabia of “sports laundering”: its rulers try to soften human rights violations by calling major sports events with figures of international stature. It should not be taken for granted that Crown Prince Bin Salman, LIV’s financier, has been linked to the murder of journalist Khashoggi.
Despite the immeasurable support of the two greatest players of all time and current golf figures to the PGA and the political censorship of the Saudis, 17 players from the US Tour defected; among them, figures of throne that will be greatly lacking for a Tour that needs shine since the one who can take command left by Woods is not yet in sight.
Dustin Johnson, a figure who puts on a show with his game, always a favorite in all the majors, winner of 24 PGA Tour tournaments, 9 on the European Tour and two majors (US Open 2016 and Masters 2020), and player of the year in 2016, gave the door slam “It is too early to know what the consequences will be, but as of now I am giving up my membership on the PGA Tour. I’m going to play here (at LIV) for now, that’s the plan,” said the world number 15. He also told the press: “I hope they allow us to play the majors.”
In addition to Phil and Dustin, five other major winners left: Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell. The other 10 “defectors” were Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, Andy Ogletree, Ian Poulter, Hudson Swafford, Peter Uihlein, Branden Grace, Kevin Na, Turk Pettit and Lee Westwood.
Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, issued a statement yesterday informing that those who participate in the new competition will not be able to do so on the American circuit.
The LIV responded with another statement where it fired back: “The PGA Tour’s announcement is vindictive and deepens the divide between the Tour and its members. It is worrying that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers, is the entity that blocks golfers from playing. Of course, this is not the last word on this subject. The free agent era is just beginning, we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London and beyond.”
In addition, Greg Norman announced that between 2023 and 2025 they will invest 2,000 million dollars in the LIV and that, instead of 8, there will be 14 tournaments. The battle has begun and these are only the first missiles. We hope that the fans will finally be the beneficiaries.
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