NASSAU, Bahamas – There’s a golf war about to get very real and potentially chaotic.
In stark contrast to the calm atmosphere around this week’s Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club – where the sun is warm, the breeze is gentle, the pressure is non-existent and the last spot pays $100,000 – the storm is seeping just below the surface at the pros at the highest levels of golf.
No official announcements or details have been made about the World League featuring some of the sport’s biggest names yet, but everyone in golf – from the PGA Tour headquarters to players in the locker rooms, training fields and putting greens in tournaments – knows it’s coming.
There has been talk about the game for a few years about a power game by Saudi-backed groups with big pockets that want to start a “major” league that attracts the game’s best players and pays them guaranteed money.
From grumbling about the game, that time may soon come, and there will be a wonderful power struggle between the PGA Tour and those trying to encroach on its fiefdom.
Last year, tour commissioner Jay Monahan told players that they would not return as members if they even played one of those proposed events.
One high-profile player, contacted by representatives of a potential “league,” told The Post this week that he was “concerned about the game” if an all-out legal squabble arises between the PGA Tour and what might happen. Another organization is considered violating its empire.
“This should all be about game development,” the player said.
At the moment, there is an immediate issue under consideration regarding Monahan and the tour. A large number of top players committed to playing for the Saudi International in February in the same week as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which for years has been one of the defining events of the PGA Tour.
Among the stars who have signed to play in Saudi Arabia are Phil Mickelson (who has won Pebble Beach five times), Dustin Johnson (twice) and 2020 champion Graeme McDowell (who also won the US Open, his only career title at Pebble). . The list also includes names such as Bryson DeChambeau, Olympic gold medalist Xander Chavili, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Abraham Anser, Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson.
Monahan has not yet announced whether he will grant concessions to these players to compete in the Saudi event. – Most (if not all) of these players will get a large appearance fee to play in Saudi Arabia. However, a high-profile PGA Tour source told The Post this week that the tour will almost certainly not grant waivers.
This sounds like a pilot balloon scenario for any Saudi group planning a new league – to see who they would choose to play and whether they would challenge the position of the PGA Tour.
Asked by The Post about the sanctuary of the tour if these players played in Saudi Arabia anyway, the source said the players would likely be fined.
The question then becomes: How much money can the PGA Tour charge a major player, who pays about $2 million to play, to make it a deterrent?
Another question is whether the PGA Tour has the legal right to tell its players, who are independent contractors, where they can and cannot play.
This is the most exciting topic in sports right now. It has become a sore topic, especially for the game’s biggest stars, who have drawn the most attention to the PGA Tour. The big players think they should be compensated more than the middle class and lower class because they are the ones who draw attention to the Tour.
“I think we’re independent contractors and we should be able to play where we want to play,” Rory McIlroy said this week in The Champion. “So, in my opinion, I think the tour should grant them release [to play in the Saudi event]. It’s an Asian tour [sanctioned] Event, it is an event with global rating points. I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t.
My personal choice is not to do that [play in Saudi Arabia], but obviously a lot of players do, and I think it’s fair to let them do it. ”
Of all the big players, McIlroy publicly opposed being part of a global league and taking the Saudis’ guaranteed money. But he is a prominent member of the PGA Tour Players Advisory Board [PAC] It protects the rights of the players.
The new league, if announced, apparently believes in the independent contractor’s argument and that players can play on both the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour.
“I think guys feel like pawns at this moment in this great kind of world golf, and we just kind of want to know where we stand,” McIlroy said. “The professional game needs to get to a point where we as professionals need to know where we stand. Are we actually independent contractors? Are we employed by a particular entity? There are a lot of gray areas in that, and that’s the kind that needs to be ironed out.”
When asked if he, as a member of the PAC, has discussed this with the PGA Tour, McIlroy said: “I think they understand where the players come from. I think some of the things you see on the Tour might be a reaction to some of those feelings.”
Those things McIlroy points out are several ways the PGA Tour has recently funneled more money to players through increased tournament portfolios and the recently implemented $40 million Player Impact Program — which pays out the 10 players with the highest “impact” scores, with The winner gets $8 million.
These are obvious maneuvers to counter the huge money that the new league may offer to attract PGA Tour players. But make no mistake, outside powers are rumored to put this league concept together that is getting the attention of the PGA Tour.
“We’re taking this very seriously,” a PGA Tour source told The Post.
Some players are wondering why the Tour did not listen to and work with outside suggestions. McIlroy actually suggested that the tour be more proactive and implement creative ideas such as the team concept on its own.
“For me, the PGA Tour is the best place in the world to play,” McIlroy said. “I’m not saying the whole thing needs to be blown up and we’re doing something different here. I think if people want golf to be more creative and want to be more engaging and want to see different concepts, there’s no reason why the PGA Tour can’t do it themselves.
“They have the know-how to put golf tournaments in place, they have all the staff, they have it all, and they have the best structure in place to do it. I’m certainly not saying I want anything else to come from this, but there are certain elements of different concepts from professional golf that I see advantages. , but I don’t see any reason why the Tour shouldn’t do that themselves.”
Tiger Woods, the most famous player on the planet, this week mainly denounced the concept of the World Tour, saying, “I’ve decided for myself that I support the PGA Tour. This is where my legacy is. So, I have a loyalty to the PGA Tour.”
“I understand that some comparisons [are] Very similar to Arnold [Palmer] and jack [Nicklaus] Separated from the American PGA to start [PGA] a trip [in 1968]. I don’t see it that way [with a new league]. I think the tour did a great job. Jay did an incredible job during a very difficult time during the pandemic when there were high chances for the players to leave, but we were the first sports tour to begin.
“I think the Tour is in good hands, they are doing a great job, and the prize money is going up. It just isn’t guaranteed for money like most sports. It’s just like tennis, you have to go out there and win it.”
This is where it gets sticky, because while golfers are used to making their winnings in the most worthy sports, the prospect of guaranteed money for the biggest stars who attract the most eyeballs to the game is bewildering.
“It’s so much fun when you play with three times the amount,” said Bryson DeChambeau. “Yes, reputation [of Saudi money] Not cool, is it? [But] If it triples, who wouldn’t if we all did, right? “
In the event that a global league emerges, the most pressing element will be what players will sign on to. For the league to be successful, it will need many of the game’s biggest stars on board. And right now, it’s as if each player is waiting to see what the other will do. Nobody wants to be the first.
World number two Colin Morikawa, who recently became the first American player to win the race to Dubai, has revealed that he has been contacted about a potential league.
“There have been conversations,” Morikawa said. “A lot of it goes through my agent, and I want to know as much information as possible. You obviously don’t want to be left out if things go one way versus the other. But I’m here to keep playing [PGA] Round, that’s my focus now. Look, I’m 24 and I open all eyes and ears to everything. ”
Shaveli said he believes this is the “mission” of the PGA Tour to keep its players happy.
“They say it’s our tour, we the players, we make the tour, so I imagine they’d be very creative in coming up with ways to make sure we don’t go and do anything they don’t want us to do,” Shaveli said. “I need to play my best golf against the best players in the world in order to be the best, and wherever I am going.
“Right now, the PGA Tour has the best players in the world, so I play on the PGA Tour. It’s very simple.”
Simplicity is about to get complicated.
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