LIV Investments – Syndication Server

Bohannan: Greg Norman, Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour still stirring up issues despite big players saying no

The rumor mill still has Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter involved with the LIV.

You would think by now that the idea of the LIV, the Saudi Arabia-backed golf league that wants to rival the PGA Tour, would have slipped quietly away. The biggest names in golf have turned their backs on the idea, saying they will stay with the profitable PGA Tour. And one of golf’s biggest names and one of its best all-time players, Phil Mickelson, is in a kind of self-exile from the game at the moment over why and how he supported the idea of the LIV.

But with all of that weighing against the LIV and its commissioner Greg Norman, the LIV still manages to make some news. This week the news is a batch of names who are recognizable but far from the elite of the tour that the LIV pursued earlier in the year.

The rumor mill still has European stars Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter involved with the LIV. The other names aren’t necessarily new, but they are intriguing. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson is among those names, and so are Kevin Na and Jason Kokrak.

In what seemed like a response to the rumors, Watson posted his summer schedule on Twitter, without mentioning the LIV and without listing any of the LIV tournaments on his agenda.

Planning out my summer… for those interested here’s a look at my upcoming tournament schedule… pic.twitter.com/AUiQVztjKB

— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 13, 2022

Was that just a way to turn off the rumors, or had Watson been persuaded to change his mind because of backlash to even the rumor of him signing with the LIV? Several players seemed to pledge their support to the PGA Tour in February after Phil Mickelson’s comments on the league were leaked and Mickelson was hit with a huge backlash.

Watson’s name is particularly interesting because he has embraced Augusta National, home of the Masters, by not only playing in the tournament as a past champion but showing up at the pre-tournament Drive, Chip and Putt event each year.

If you believe Norman, still the face of the LIV, he was left off the invitation list to the Masters this year he believes because of his backing of the LIV. Would Watson want to risk that in his career?

PNC Championship 2020 — Greg Norman at the 2020 PNC Championship in Orlando. (Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press)

It’s probably not fair to say the other names wouldn’t particularly be missed if they stopped playing PGA Tour events, because most players have their fans who love to see them play. But Na and Kokrak are far from Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, some of the names the LIV expressed interest in early in the planning stages. McIlroy never supported the LIV, Johnson was among those saying no as recently as February and Tiger Woods has given the LIV concept a flat-out no.

The league that won’t go away

So why does the LIV live on? Part of it is the PGA Tour has been instituting many changes in the last year, and some of them seem to be direct responses to the threat of the LIV. Those changes include increased purses at most tournaments, the institution of a Players Impact Program that gives bonuses to important and popular players and even talk of a new Fall Series team concept, kind of along the lines of what the LIV has proposed.

The other reason the LIV lingers on is Norman himself. For now at least, Norman has refused to accept defeat, even in the face of the best and biggest names in the game giving the LIV the cold shoulder. In a series of interviews this week, Norman doubled down on his belief that the PGA Tour can not ban players from its tournaments for signing up with the LIV, and that he believes the LIV will play on no matter who is in the field. He added that better players will eventually want to play for the LIV’s money, knowing they can beat the golfers signed up for the league.

The PGA Tour and the status quo in golf can feel good about the Masters last week, the cementing of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler with a Masters victory and the idea that Tiger Woods remains the biggest and most appealing attraction in golf. The LIV wasn’t even an afterthought at Augusta National.

Will there be a death blow for the LIV in the coming weeks? Norman certainly seems intent on keeping the league around, even at the cost of careers and legacies.

Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for the Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support Local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.

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Phil Mickelson considering other playing opportunities due to PGA Tour’s ‘obnoxious greed’

“If the tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players.”

Phil Mickelson said the “obnoxious greed” of the PGA Tour is leading him to seriously consider other playing opportunities, including the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League that would rival the PGA Tour.

Mickelson, speaking with Golf Digest at the Saudi International, where he is receiving a seven-figure appearance fee, said the PGA Tour’s ownership of media rights, among other issues, has him looking elsewhere.

“It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on,” Mickelson told Golf Digest. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players.

“But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel.

“There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest. For me personally, it’s not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots; access I do not have. They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did ‘The Match’ – there are have been five of them – the Tour forced me to pay them $1 million each time. For my own media rights.

“That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious.”

The PGA Tour declined comment on Wednesday.

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Last November, however, in a memo sent to players, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said 55 percent of the Tour’s revenue in 2022, which is expected to be $1.522 billion, would be allotted to the players

The FedEx Cup bonus pool will increase from $60 million to $75 million, with the winner receiving $18 million. The Comcast Business Tour Top 10 will increase from $10 million to $20 million; and the new Play15 Bonus Program, which pays players who play at least 15 PGA Tour events, is $10 million.

Official prize money will be $427 million, up from $367 million in 2021. Average purses will increase by more than $1 million to $9.1 million, with the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial Tournament, and the World Golf Championship rising to $12 million.

And the Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, will feature a purse of $20 million, up from $15 million in 2021.

As well, the Player Impact Program will hand out $50 million to the top 10 players who produce the most engagement and raise the most attention for the Tour. It should be noted that last year, the PIP gave out $40 million. Mickelson, who became the oldest player to win a major in last year’s PGA Championship, said he was the winner and will receive $8 million; the Tour has not released the payouts.

While the Tour wouldn’t respond to Mickelson’s comments, four-time major winner Brooks Koepka weighed in. On Golf Digest’s Instagram feed, Koepka responded to a quote of Mickelson’s about the Tour’s obnoxious greed by posting: “Dk if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil.”

Mickelson is definitely considering playing in the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led golf league that would rival the PGA Tour. Norman and LIV Golf Investments is funded by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. Saudi Arabia has been harshly criticized for its human rights record and the country is among the top executioners in the world; people are put to death annually, some in public beheadings.

LIV Golf Investments has pledged $300 million into the Asian Tour. The Super Golf League, which would be based on team competition, would offer hundreds of millions more in guaranteed purses.

“I’m not sure how this is going to play out,” Mickelson said. “My ultimate loyalty is to the game of golf and what it has given me. I am so appreciative of the life it has provided. I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know where things are headed. But I know I will be criticized. That’s not my concern.

“All that would do is dumb down one of the most intricate issues in sports. It would be so naive to not factor in all of the complexities. The media rights are but a small fraction of everything else. And it is the Tour’s obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere.”

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Patrick Cantlay chose Pebble Beach this week, but remains curious observer of potential Saudi Arabia-backed rival league

“I think with the amount of money they’re talking about it’s always very tempting. I think it’s tempting for everybody.”

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – To play in the Saudi International or the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am?

Patrick Cantlay is at Pebble Beach.

The world No. 4, reigning FedEx Cup champion, and PGA Tour Player of the Year said ahead of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that he was approached to play in the conflicting event in the Middle East that is paying appearance fees reaching seven figures to some players.

More than 20 players were granted releases from the PGA Tour to play in Saudi Arabia but had to agree to play the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at least once in the next two years. Cantlay doesn’t have to have his arm squeezed to play Pebble.

“It’s one of my favorite places in the world. I love the Monterey Peninsula and I love Pebble Beach and so every time I’m here I feel lucky and no different this week,” said Cantlay, who has two top 10s including a tie for third last year in five starts at Pebble. “I love California golf, and this is the epitome of California golf and so I think it’s great and I definitely feel at home. Greens that are for the most part traditional and very severely sloped back to front. Poa annua greens and in general the properties are more condensed. There’s less real estate so it feels like the properties are a little older in general and that’s just golf I played growing up in junior golf. Whenever I’m on Poa annua greens at a course like Pebble Beach it feels like I’ve played courses like that my whole life.”

But Cantlay didn’t slam the door on playing in Saudi Arabia in the future. Nor has he made a definitive decision on a proposed Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led league that would rival the PGA Tour. Norman and LIV Golf Investments have pledged $300 million into the Asian Tour with 10 new events.

The league, which would be based on team competition, would offer hundreds of millions more in guaranteed purses.

LIV Golf Investments is backed by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. Saudi Arabia has been harshly criticized for its human rights record and the country is among the top executioners in the world; people are put to death annually, some in public beheadings.

“I think with the amount of money they’re talking about it’s always very tempting. I think it’s tempting for everybody. And to deny that would be, you know, maybe not true,” said Cantlay, who has two wins and two other top 10s in his last four PGA Tour starts. “I think it’s a complicated thing and I don’t think there’s an easy answer. I think there’s two sides to every coin and if people want to be more interested in golf and want to put more money into golf, I think that’s a good thing.

“I think it’s tricky because it’s not always in the fashion that people would have expected or wanted, and I would say at this point I’m definitely a curious observer as to see what happens and who decides to play.”

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Especially if a certain number of the world’s best players did join the league.

“I think definitely there’s a want of the best players in the world to play against the other best players in the world,” Cantlay said. “It’s a complicated equation. I wouldn’t be surprised if people’s tune changed quick if the best players, if a majority of the best players in the world wanted to play anywhere. Because if they did, I think there’s a real desire of the most competitive people out here to play against the best players in the world almost no matter what.

“But more of my point was, it almost doesn’t matter who or what or where or how, if the best players in the world, a large percentage of them are playing, and the stakes are high and like all of them are there and I’m not there, I’m going to be disappointed, because that’s exactly what I want to be doing.”

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Asian Tour gets big boost from LIV Golf Investments, fires shot at DP World Tour by announcing first event in Europe

“This is just the start for us,” said Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf Investments.

LIV Golf Investments announced another $100 million investment into the Asian Tour as well as the first few events of its newly launched International Series, beginning in March.

“This is just the start for us,” said Greg Norman CEO of LIV Golf Investments. “The 10-event series we’ll be starting off is just the beginning. It’s the beginning of an exciting new journey.”

The International Series will debut in Thailand at Black Mountain Golf Club from March 3-6 and include stops in England, Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong and will feature prize purses ranging from $1.5 to $2 million per event.

The announcement of a tournament staged in London at Centurion Club from June 9-12 and offering a $2 million purse marks the Asian Tour’s first foray into Europe and will be played not far the headquarters of the DP World Tour. Asian Tour CEO Cho Minh Thant downplayed the move as a formal attack on its former partner.

“If you look at the way the other tours are operating, as well, there’s instances where the PGA Tour plays in Asia. There’s instances where the DP World Tour is trying to or playing in Asia as well,” he said. “Obviously, there’s no boundaries anymore in the world of golf.”

“The International Series is not going to be geo-fenced,” Norman added. “Just because the International Series is associated with the Asian Tour, we want to get the message out there that it’s just not specifically for the Asian region, and that’s critically important for everybody to understand. Healthy competition and respectful competition should be spread globally.”

The second half of the year will see stops in Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia before heading to the Middle East and then culminating in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Due to COVID-19 restrictions still in place in those countries, dates and sites for these events will be announced at a later time.

LIV Golf Investments also bumped its commitment to invest in the Asian Tour from $200 million to $300 million.

“In a nutshell, what have we really done? We’ve identified a new opportunity out of a lost opportunity,” said Norman, who called the Asian Tour a “sleeping giant.” “It’s because we believe in the players. We believe in the partners that we’re associated with, the Asian Tour. We believe in the future of where the game of golf can go.”

Each of the 10 events will be broadcast live across the globe, with plans to attract an international field of headline talent.

In October, Norman was announced as CEO of LIV Golf Investments. PIF, which operates on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia and ranks as one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, is the majority shareholder in LIV Golf Investments.

The announcement comes on the eve of the Asian Tour’s new season with the $5 million PIF Saudi International starting this Thursday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. The field is comprised of six of the top 20 players in the world competing – including Americans Dustin Johnson, the 2019 and 2021 champion, and Bryson Dechambeau – as well as over 50 of the Asian Tour’s most prominent players and represents the strongest field in the history of the Asian Tour. The tournament, which is not part of the International Series, also offers one of the Asian Tour’s most lucrative purses.

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