The news about the PGA Tour’s partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is a few weeks old, but the smoke has not yet cleared.
With much confusion still in the air about the details of the deal, PGA Tour legend Tom Watson penned a letter addressed to Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.
Watson seemed diplomatic about the situation, including Monahan’s reported “medical issue” that has forced him to temporarily step away from his role, but questioned the “hypocrisy” in the deal.
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“The communication has been mishandled and the process by which the Tour agreed on a proposed partnership with PIF was executed without due process,” Watson wrote.
Watson, who is an eight-time major winner and won 39 times on the PGA Tour, said he recognizes that this move shows that the Tour was in “a more desperate financial situation than has been previously revealed,” but questioned the lack of transparency of the PGA Tour to its players especially given the “moral issue” of working with the Saudis.
“Is the PIF the only viable rescue from the Tour’s financial problems?” Watson asked. “I still await Saudi acknowledgement of their role in the attacks of 9/11, which resulted in the loss of the innocent lives of 3000 of my fellow American citizens.”
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Many of the questions Watson asked in the letter remain unanswered in the week following the 2023 U.S. Open, the first major since the PGA Tour and PIF partnership was announced. And like many of the fans who love the game of golf, Watson is hoping Monahan and the PGA Tour provide answers soon.
“My loyalty to golf and this country live in the same place and have held equal and significant weight with me over my lifetime. Please educate me and others in a way that allows loyalty to both and in a way that makes it easy to look 9/11 families in the eye and ourselves in the mirror.”
