LIV Golf

It is all but impossible to write anything about golf these days without discussing the elephant in the room: LIV, or as some call it Tour 54. This league or “tour” is FUNDED BY THE SAUDI INVESTMENT FUND better known as Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, to the tune of some 2 BILLION dollars and is the brainchild of Gregory John Norman, former Australian professional player, entrepreneur and seemingly self-absorbed egotist. Norman has had a long-running quarrel with the PGA Tour and this new “super league” is his latest attempt at revenge. He has tried things in the past, all to no avail, largely due to a lack of financing. Now, it seems he has found an endless stream of cash, in fact the motherload of funds, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Founded in 1971, the PIF of Saudi Arabia, which allegedly provides “financing for productive commercial products that are strategically significant to the development of the Saudi Arabian economy” is, in many ways, merely a front to divert attention from the myriad human rights violations of the Saudi Monarchy. The strategy of investing in popular enterprises to divert attention from inherent evils is not uncommon in nation states and even some multinational corporations. In the world of professional competition, “sportswashing” is the latest term for it. The “we will do good if you look away from our evils” syndrome is all too familiar. 

The new tour (The LEAVE TOUR as a friend calls it) has promised millions of dollars to a wide variety of players to lure them away from the PGA tour. Many are less than household names but a few big stars have also accepted the blood money from Norman and MBS. The conflict arises from a strict PGA Tour rule which states that players cannot compete in any other event on any week that a PGA sanctioned tournament is taking place. That is why players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and others (17 in total) have been suspended from the PGA Tour. The defectors are claiming “independent contractor” status and claiming they should be allowed to play whenever and wherever they want. Fine says the PGA, but you have just lost your tour card! 

Regardless of what side of this debacle you may be on, we have to accept the fact that this is likely to change the face of professional golf as we have known it. As I write these words, the PGA and the DP Tour (formerly the European Tour) are joining forces to form what may truly be a world tour, and it seems obvious that those who chose the LIV league will not be included in this, and that includes the international competitions - the Ryder and Presidents Cups. The PGA Tour is awarding a Tour card to the top 10 players on the DP tour and I fully expect that the Australasian Tour will likely qualify as well, all to the exclusion of the LIV defectors. 

We also have to face the fact that there’s just no way private sponsors can match the Saudis in sponsor money; therefore, those players seeking the big bucks and not interested in their legacy, or what might be good for the Tour, will leave. Money talks and BS walks…and to be fair, from a purely financial perspective we can’t blame them. They will play less and earn more! I also respect the argument that many of the PGA Tour partners have associations we might consider less than benevolent in their corporate practices. Hence, the moral objection to the new tour is a rabbit hole. No, the problem this author has with the LIV Tour is the format.

Professional golf has always been the purest form of competition in that money is earned solely based on performance on any given week. If the biggest stars - Tiger, Jack - miss the cut, they earn nothing that week. Zero! So, when a “co-cut” policy (all players are paid, even for last place) is the format it completely mitigates the integrity of the competition! Appearance fees have been anathema to everything the PGA stands and has stood for since its inception. The LIV tour seems to want to offer these players the world just to get them to defect from the PGA, and they have gone to these extremes to achieve their goals: “blood money,” appearance fees, no-cut, travel money…it all seems a bit much and threatens professional golf as we have enjoyed it. 

I hope this all ends well but I seriously doubt if it will. Then again, most of the top stars have all the money they’ll ever need so this is hardly threatening anyone’s livelihood. The positive legacy of all this is it may very well benefit the development tours (Korn Ferry, Latin America, Canada) through increased purses and more opportunities in off-season events. I hope it does! Stay tuned, this story is only getting started.