With the March 16 announcement of the LIV Golf International eight-event series, the time has come to analyze the validity of the proposed league and explore the ramifications of a possible rift in the world of tour golf.
The concept of an insurgent tour is far from an original idea to golf. Greg “The Great White Shark” Norman put in motion his plans for the 1994 World Golf Tour, planning to showcase golfers as individual entities unrestrained from the bounds of the PGA Tour. Norman’s plan to expand golf’s limits never came to fruition, but from then on, it is evident to anyone that is involved in golf media or player relations that there is a yearning to alter golf’s norms. Norman, recently named the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, is now sinking his shark teeth into a new venture: The Saudi Arabian-backed Super Golf League. Here we go again, nearly 30 years later, with the game on the precipice of collapse and now an official league to rival the established tour.
From an operational standpoint, LIV Golf Investments are financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. With help from the PIF, the league boasts $255 million in prize money through its eight scheduled tour events. Each event will be a three-round, 54-hole competition with no cuts, compared to the PGA Tour format of the three-round 72-hole events with field cuts lying from four-over-par to even par. There will also be shotgun starts in order to fit the events into a shorter time window, along with a team component, with 12 squads comprised of the 48 field members.
Rumors have swirled around the golf world of various big-name players thought to be in the early stages of joining the “Saudi” Golf League. While some sources claim that there have been 17 tour players signed up, as of the Genesis Invitational in late February, the consensus seemed to be that nothing is set in stone. That should tell you all you need to know. The SGL is far from a viable business model, and all speculations about “poaching” players need to be put to rest. Players such as Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Tiger Woods are staying loyal to the PGA Tour, claiming that money doesn’t compare to the value of competing with the best golfers in the world. PGA Tour veteran Pat Perez came out denouncing the impending rival league. “If he [Tiger Woods] doesn’t want to do it, if Rory [McIlroy] doesn’t want to do it, and you don’t have the top kids doing it, I just don’t know how much water it’s going to hold anyway. I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” said Perez.
Long-serving member of the PGA tour, Phil Mickelson, claims to be utilizing his discussions with the Super Golf League as leverage towards “changing how the PGA tour operates.” It is, however, difficult to examine the true intentions of Mickelson as he has been playing on tour for longer than most of the field has been alive and is on his way out to the proverbial pasture. Additionally, Lee Westwood has endorsed the league and even admitted signing a nondisclosure agreement with LIV. Because the SGL is primarily funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which the Saudi government runs, this makes it tough to separate the league from the unacceptable human rights violations the country is responsible for in recent history. Mickelson and Westwood are both well aware of the country’s negative record on human rights. So, if they are even remotely endorsing the league, they will have Saudi Arabia’s share of negative connotations.
The concept of a country funding, hosting or participating in a sporting event in an attempt to distract from or cover up their tarnished reputation is known as “sportwashing.” This strategy is something that the Saudi Arabian government knows all too well. Made popular during the 1936 Olympiad in Nazi Germany, “sportwashing” has occurred numerous times since then. Through the country hosting various boxing matches, Formula 1 Grands Prix and soccer matches, the Saudi government attempting to cover up recent inhumane acts with a professional golf league is not far-fetched.
During their primes, Westwood and Mickelson were incredibly impactful players, but retirement is not far down the road for either golfer. Not being successful in pulling in current heavyweight or even up-and-coming golfers brings into question the credibility of the SGL and whether or not the league is, as McIlroy puts it, “a money grab.”
While most of the players thought to be working closely with the Saudi Golf League have shut down hearsay, Mickelson and Westwood remain purposefully ambiguous. That being the case, the future of both leagues is in the hands of the players themselves and with a playing schedule locked in as of March, many will have a crucial decision fast approaching.
At the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, Jay Monahan, commissioner of the Players Golf Association, repeated his position: any player joining the Saudi-backed golf league will face immediate suspension and possible expulsion from the PGA Tour.
It is not to say that professional golf is not in dire need of a makeover. After all, players such as Brooks Koepka and Bryson Dechambeau have called for changing the layout and rules of the tour even before the rival tour was announced. However, the Saudi-backed Golf League is not the answer. That being said, has the early workings of a rival league opened things up for the PGA Tour to look at what they can improve on? Without question.
Apart from the threat Norman and the SGL imposed, these adjustments are long overdue and are a step in the right direction for future changes down the fairway.
From the outside looking in, the golf community believes the tour’s recent increase in the FedEx Cup prize money is a direct response to the threat this new rival league imposes. However, when the PGA’s negotiated media rights deal was announced at the start of last year (a nine-year agreement believed to be valued at $7 billion), Monahan claimed the allocation of funds would “put us in a position to significantly increase player earnings.” In that same light, last year the association enacted the Player Impact Program (PIP), a compensation initiative aimed at rewarding the game’s most prolific names outside of how they perform from tee to green. Last year, $40 million was allocated for the top ten players on the tour’s PIP standings, with that amount set to increase in the seasons to come.
With zero players fully locked in to abandon the PGA for the Saudi League, and the league’s inaugural event scheduled for early June in London, from the perspective of the Super Golf League and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, things are looking far from promising.