PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has admitted the American-based circuit can not compete in an ‘arm race of dollar bills’ against new-found rival LIV Golf.
The Saudi-backed series has formed as a competitor to the PGA Tour at the top of the golfing world, after attempting to lure in some of the sport’s biggest names with mega-money offers and prize money. The likes of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson have all traded their PGA Tour cards - and legacies - in exchange for an eye-watering signing on fee in excess of £100 million, and to compete for £20 million in prize money at each event.
Tour commissioner Monahan addressed the saga ahead of this week’s Travelers Championship, in which he described it as an ‘arms race’. The American said: “As I also said to the players yesterday, let me be clear, I am not naive. 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.” Monahan had addressed the PGA Tour playing quota in a mandatory meeting ahead of this week’s event in Connecticut, in which he revealed a similar eight-event lucrative series to challenge the LIV Golf model.
The tour commissioner did admit he welcomes ‘good, healthy competition’, but insists the Saudi-backed circuit is not that. Monahan said: “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.”
Describing LIV Golf as ‘dismantling the institutions’ of the game, he continued: “Currently no one organisation owns or dominates the game of golf. Instead, the various entities, be it Augusta National or the USGA or the LPGA or the PGA Tour or the PGA of America work together to meet our own respective priorities, but with the best interests of the game overall at heart.
“But when someone attempts to buy the sport, dismantle the institutions that are intrinsically invested in its growth, and focus only on a personal priority, that partnership evaporates, and instead we end up with one person, one entity, using endless amounts of money to direct employees, not members or partners, toward their personal goal, which may or may not change tomorrow or the next day.
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"I doubt that’s the vision any of us have for the game. Now, I know legacy and purpose sound like talking points that don’t mean much, but when I talk of those concepts, it isn’t about some sort of intangible moral high ground. It is our track record as an organisation and as a sport.”
During Monahan’s press conference the announcement of Koepka’s Saudi switch was confirmed by LIV bosses in a statement. The commissioner revealed he had spoken with the four-time major winner on Monday, adding that he was ‘disappointed’ at Koepka’s decision to make the controversial move.
