The Change Heard Round the World

In one fell swoop, the world of professional golf has changed and may never be the same. It is difficult to predict what may happen but make no mistake:  it will be a sea change.  The suddenness of the announcement is, of course, open to a variety of possibilities, but they all portend dissimilarities the likes of which we have never seen.  Let’s look at a few of them:

• The PGA (Professional Golfers of AMERICA) will be funded by a foreign nation. I don’t know if they will earn Dollars or Rupees, but all the events on the PGA Tour, European Tour and LIV tournaments will now be PIF (Saudi) funded.

• The political fallout of tournaments sponsored by a state with a notorious human rights record is colossal. Will every tournament be besieged by protests?

• Since its inception, the LIV tour has enticed several PGA players to join their ranks by offering them millions of dollars. Some players famously took that money, however, some did not. What happens, or should happen, to the players who refused the enticement?

• It is no secret that the PGA of America was hemorrhaging money. In order to compete with Saudi Arabia (LIV), The PGA adopted a business model which, going forward, it could not sustain.  The lifeblood of the PGA Tour was its philanthropic endeavors. These charities were already feeling the crunch of the PGA Tour cutbacks due to the new enhanced purses, for example.

• Why the abrupt 180-degree turnaround? Last week LIV was the archenemy of the PGA tour.  Suddenly and seemingly without any prior notice, the enemy became the partner. Consider that even the likes of Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, and Jack Nicklaus found out about this development when the rest of us did! That reeks of something very clandestine, something the powers that be wanted kept well under wraps.

• What about the sponsors of the American events currently? For the longest while, they have supported the PGA Tour because of its unique role as a charitable entity. Unlike any other sport in the world, the PGA Tour has given BILLIONS of dollars to various charities. Will that continue if private companies are no longer in the driver’s seat…if they are riding shotgun with MBS? 

• What about the competitive events themselves? Will they continue to be individual stroke play, or will the team concept, loud music, and carts now be the norm? 

• Will the traditional venues agree to open their portals to events now sponsored by the likes of Saudi Arabia? Can you see that occurring without weekly angry crowds and voices raised in protest to human rights atrocities?

This is not about a new structure or a partnership, this is about the integrity of the game and WHO the new partners are. The World Tour, for lack of a better name, will now be at the mercy of MBS and whatever he chooses to do to “sports wash” his reputation. This author knows no more about what will happen than any of you readers, but one thing is clear: nothing will ever be the same at the elite level.  As for the good ole game itself and all of your participation in it, I’m sure not one thing will change. “So we got that that goin’ for us…which is nice.”