The high priests in the PGA (Professional Golf Association) deserve a kick in their backsides for having pulled a fast one on so many golfers in the last one year. Since the time the LIV Golf began in 2022 and threatened the very fabric of the pro golf tour structure, the PGA was whining and cursing. They behaved like the bad-boys-turned-bullies on streets who were hitting the golfers below the belt for joining the LIV tour, which offered big bucks, something which the PGA could not fork out.
In one fell swoop, on Tuesday, the PGA ate humble pie and had to shake hands with the LIV Golf. What was it that forced the PGA to take this decision or make this decision will take time to unravel? Be that as it may, what comes across as cheap is that the PGA was acting like a schoolmaster and trying to show it was the big boss. They were the bosses, never doubt that, having run the sport for so many decades. Yet, when a new form and a new format came up — LIV Golf — the PGA was unable to digest it.
What all the nasty things the PGA said about LIV Golf and even former President of the United States of America Donald Trump cannot be forgotten. Love him or hate him, Trump owns lovely golf courses in the US which hosted the LIV Golf events last year. No sport can survive with a confrontation approach. One man who deserves a rap on his knuckles, a hard one that is, Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour. The words he uttered over and over again, castigating the LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia in particular, were harsh.
Saudi Arabia and sport are in the news for plenty of right reasons these days. If LIV Golf saw Saudi investing mega bucks in the sport, there was nothing wrong with it. After all, any professional worth his salt has a right to earn money by plying his trade. No, PGA and Monahan in particular were distasteful in their comments. They made the “rebel” golfers feel like beggars and outcaste.
Firstly, the usage of the word “rebel” is wrong for the simple reason they (golfers) were not up in arms against the PGA. The golfers who switched from PGA to LIV were well within their right to do so. What the PGA did was cunning, curt, and obnoxious. Players who moved to LIV were worried about their international rankings falling and they had to face anxiety over competing in the Majors. It was made out as if anyone who was part of the LIV was a “terrorist” of sorts as Saudi Arabia was linked to the 9/11 terror incidents in New York in 2001.
Related: ‘Hypocrite’ PGA Tour blasted for stopping players to take ‘immoral’ Saudi money from LIV Golf
PGA are deservedly the laughing stock of world now
To be sure, 9/11 can never be forgotten or forgiven. Yet, to brand Saudi Arabia as a terror factory of sorts by the PGA was not needed. The PGA and LIV have done the shake hand but the former should know they have become a laughing stock! After all, Saudi Arabia has forced a win-win situation. For that matter, even when one talks of the political relation between the US and Saudi Arabia, it is not as bitter as before.
The time has come when elite golfers like Tiger Woods, in the last phase of his career in pain, will realize how he was fooled by the PGA. He did not make a move to LIV Golf and many more also stayed away in fear. How much money they lost is not a joke. The PGA had behaved like a big boss before coming up with this shake-hand (or Sheikh hand) deal! Golfers who lost money by not joining the LIV will slam the PGA.
How the merger will play out will be watched with great interest. Everyone knows golf is an elite sport with a far reach. Anyone who thought Saudi Arabia is a desert will realize they are going to make it green, literally. They can do anything with the Petrodollars they have, including buying a player like CR7, Cristiano Ronaldo. Very soon, Lionel Messi will also be part of the Saudi football league. It goes to show how Saudi Arabia will change the landscape of global sports.
For its part, the PGA owes an apology to many people, starting first with the golfers. They made life hard for the LIV tour. They had no TV rights deals, which was sad. An impression was created by the PGA that LIV Golf was a sin, a curse, a devil. Well, to shake hands with the LIV means the PGA has been exposed. It’s a bit like how Kerry Packer rocked the cricket circus so many decades ago in Australia.
Looking at the positive part of the prism which is emerging, one hopes pro golfers gain from the merger. LIV Golf did not deserve this isolation by the PGA. Maybe, it is the right time now to restructure the board as well. People who will run golf must be men with good intentions, not conceited like Jay Monahan!
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