In an open letter to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s Board and fellow players, World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson said communication of the new partnership between the Tour and the Saudi-run Public Investment Fund was poorly handled and wondered aloud whether the players have any other options.
The note, which was sent on Monday, wished Monahan well as he battled a recent medical issue, then acknowledged that his job has been a difficult one as the Tour has attempted to stave off LIV Golf’s advances. But Watson, who won five British Opens among eight majors, said he wasn’t pleased with how the news was rolled out.
In the wake of recent news, I also understand the cries of hypocrisy. Because he is a smart man, I know Jay does too. In my opinion, the communication has been mishandled and the process by which the Tour agreed on a proposed partnership with PIF was executed without due process. As a group of players and stakeholders who represent the face and the brands of the Tour, what are our choices?
Watson added that while the meeting the players had in advance of the RBC Canadian Open allowed for a short forum on the deal, many questions remain unanswered and he hopes there will be a more robust discussion this week as the Tour heads to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, for the Travelers Championship.
The Commissioner and the PGA Tour Board, on which five Tour players sit, are going to have to do a lot of firsthand explaining to comfortably coax acceptance with our membership on this partnership with the PIF. The Tour’s stakeholders: the Players themselves, the broad span of global media, as well as the tournament sponsors and independent Tour partners, require an explanation of the benefits of forming this partnership.
Monahan told PGA Tour employees the current model wasn’t sustainable. The PIF has a reported $620 billion in assets. The meeting in Toronto came two days after the announced deal to form a new for-profit entity.
Monahan reportedly told employees the Tour had spent $50 million in legal fees and dipped into reserves for $100 million to pay increased purses in designated events and other bonuses.
There are many unanswered questions to date, which I hope will be addressed with the players by Tour management at this week’s Traveler’s Tour event. What does acceptance of this partnership mean to the Tour? What do we get? What do we give up? Why was this deal done in such secrecy and why wasn’t even one of the players who sits on the Tour’s Policy Board included? A matter this profound deserves thorough vetting by a representative group of stakeholders which include those, who in the end, define the public image and emotional connection with the PGA Tour.
An open letter from Tom Watson to the @PGATOUR sent this morning regarding the recent agreement with the PIF. @5ClubsGolf pic.twitter.com/AGglnJDk50
— Gary Williams (@Garywilliams1Up) June 19, 2023
Watson, who was the PGA Tour Player of the Year six times during a storied career that saw him 39 PGA Tour events, also said the agreement to partner with Saudi Arabia’s PIF has been difficult for many to swallow.
These questions are compounded by the hypocrisy in disregarding the moral issue; a position which for a long time was publicly highlighted by Tour leadership. While it is accepted that players on all levels would value the opportunity to make more money, it has also been illustrated that not all of our players are in search of money at all costs. Those who stayed true to the Tour for whatever personal reason or position of moral conscience are more than a few outliers. There are widespread rumors on the Tour offering financial reparations to these players who rejected offers from LIV and remained loyal to our Tour. Surely, that alone misses the larger issue of context here? And in a related question, what if any, are the plans to reinstate Tour players who defected and now want to return to the PGA Tour?
Watson closed by saying he hopes more answers — and transparency — will be coming in the near future.
My overarching questions remain. Is the PIF the only viable rescue from the Tour’s financial problems? Was/is there a plan B? And again, what exactly is the exchange? We need clarity and deserve full disclosure as to the financial health of the PGA Tour and the details of this proposed partnership.
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.
I am very grateful for our country, its abundant opportunities, and the wonderful life made possible by the PGA Tour.
Watson has a well-documented history of throwing his weight into issues of social justice. In 1990, Watson quit his membership at Kansas City Country Club after the club denied access to a potential member who was Jewish. Watson had been a member of the club for decades.
“They put a prominent Jewish person up for membership and his application was withdrawn,” Watson told the Associated Press, as noted in the New York Times. “It’s something I can’t personally live with because my family is Jewish. … I would hope the club would significantly change so some good people of any religion, race and sex could be members.”
The Saudi-owned PIF’s involvement in sports, and in particular golf, has been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
