Opinion: Saudi PIF Buys, Sorry, Merges With PGA Tour - What's Next?

PixabayPhoto byMaklay62

"Listen, I think I’ve been pretty clear on this: I don’t see [a truce] happening," Monahan said then. "When you look at where we are, and you think about words and actions, we’re currently in a lawsuit. So, coming together and having conversations, to me, that card is off the table, and it has been for a long period of time." (From Commissioner Jay Monahan in Sept. 2022)

So, what changed?

The LIV Tour, the upstart professional golfing tour that has been at odds with the PGA, its commissioner and many of its top golfers has now announced a merger with the PGA and DP World Tours.

LIV, fully funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a $620 billion wealth fund derived from the country’s oil profits, has made headlines for over a year by offering some of golf’s top golfers tens or even hundreds of millions to defect from the PGA Tour and become part of theirs.

Reports at one point had Tiger Woods being offered upwards of $800 million to leave the PGA and become a key player in the LIV Tour.

But he, like Rory McElroy, Scottie Scheffler, and many others fought against these incentives, stayed loyal to the PGA, and put up with a good deal of antagonism between players as the two warring tours took their fight to the courts.

But now both sides, like a feuding couple heading to divorce courts and announcing instead a second honeymoon, have reported that the war is over.

Peace is in the air and all is well. Apparently, all the animosity between the two camps was necessary for Commissioner Monahan to reach the conclusion that they were meant to be together.

“We welcome good, healthy competition. The LIV Saudi golf league is not that. It’s an irrational threat; one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game.”

How did this happen?

Wasn’t it just a short time ago that the LIV was struggling to find sponsors, struggling to find media partners willing and able to cover their events with TV, cable, and streaming services in order to compete with the PGA’s long history of nationally televised tournaments such as The Masters, the PGA Championship and others?

Didn’t the PGA successfully launch initiatives to increase purses, reduce requirements and times spent on the road for top players, and generally make things better and more attractive all around?

So, from a warring perspective how did this weaker opponent (LIV) looking for relief from all quarters, suddenly become a welcomed partner in the international world of professional golf?

"Well, I talked to players, I talked at a player meeting. And I've talked to a number of players individually for a long period of time," Monahan said. "And I think you'd have to be living under a rock to not know that there are significant implications. And as it relates to the families of 9/11, I have two families that are close to me that lost loved ones. So, my heart goes out to them. And I would ask any player that has left or any player that would ever consider leaving: Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?" (June 12, 2022 CBS Interview by Jim Nantz)

As noted, the LIV Tour was fully funded by the Saudi PIF. A wealth fund originated in the 1970s to grow Saudi’s influence in the world beyond that of oil and gas.

Part of the new deal with the PGA is that the PIF will become the sole investor for future commercial activities and have a right of refusal of any future investment opportunities. In addition, the acting governor of the PIF, Yasir al-Rumayyan will become the new chair of the board of this new entity while PGA Tour’s Monahan assumes the role of CEO.

What exactly took place in Commissioner Monahan’s mind that took him from being an advocate for the PGA’s stance as a separate and “sovereign” entity with nothing less than a complete disregard for the LIV and its plans to speaking their praises and embracing them as equal partners in the expansion of the PGA Tour’s influence around the world?

Was it the same thing that lured a number of highly-ranked PGA members to play for LIV in the first place? Saudi money?

"As I also said to the players, let me be clear: I am not naive," Monahan said during a news conference at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. "If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can't compete. The PGA Tour, an American institution, can't compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf.” Also said in the summer of 2022

Yesterday, as the Commissioner announced the plans for a merger between the PGA, DP World, and LIV, many of the golfers that supported him and his cause over the last year were caught by surprise.

Monahan’s response to their and others’ criticism, “I recognize everything that I have said in the past and my prior positions. I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite. Anytime I said anything I said it with the information I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players.”

Dylan Wu, a 26-year-old second-year player on the PGA Tour, called the merger “hypocrisy.”

“Tell me why Jay Monahan basically got a promotion to CEO of all golf in the world by going back on everything he said the past 2 years,” Wu tweeted, adding: “I guess money always wins.”

You may also have read recently how the PIF was supporting its own soccer league in Saudi Arabia by luring several older marque players away from international soccer clubs, with such acquisitions as Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema - signing them up for annual salaries of €100 to €200 million per year.

It’s it possible that the reason the merger was made was that the PIF and its representatives simply made Commissioner Monahan an offer he couldn’t refuse?