Tag: Super Golf League

In letter to players, Greg Norman says Saudi Arabia-backed league will launch, with details of first events coming Wednesday

In a letter obtained by Golfweek, Greg Norman said the rival Saudi Arabia-backed golf league still has teeth.

Greg Norman is not going away.

In a letter he sent Tuesday to players and obtained by Golfweek, the Great White Shark said the rival Saudi Arabia-backed golf league that would rival the PGA Tour still has teeth and will launch soon, and information of the proposed league’s first events will be announced Wednesday,

S.I.com/Morning Read was the first to report the news.

Despite recent, overwhelming dismissal of the league by many of the game’s top players, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth, Norman, the CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf Investments, said “we will continue to drive this vision forward. We will not stop. We believe in our mission and will announce information about our first events tomorrow.”

LIV Golf Investments, backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has already committed $300 million over 10 years to the Asian Tour. Although lacking in detail, LIV Golf Investments also has proposed a Super Golf League that would consist of 14 events with 48-player fields featuring both individual and team play.

The events would be 54 holes with no cut. Each would have a $20 million purse.

An ownership component for players with eight-figure signing bonuses also has been reported.

Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have been rumored to be joining the league. Johnson and DeChambeau, however, recently have said they are with the PGA Tour. Mickelson, who hasn’t played since the Farmers Insurance Open, said he needed time away from the game after derogatory remarks he made in November about the repressive Saudi Arabia regime and the PGA Tour were made public by Alan Shipnuck of the Firepit Collective and author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar.”

Despite the player rejections and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan saying last week at The Players Championship that the Tour is moving on, Norman remains undeterred. Monahan has told players if they join the rival league, they could lose PGA Tour membership.

“We consider ourselves a start-up,” Norman wrote. “We may start with a modest number of players, but we won’t stay that way for long. I fully understand some players may choose not to play with us right away. But after we get going, I believe many of those who aren’t with us now will be with us later. I want to thank you for your patience, but know, it will be worth your while.

“While we respect that some of you may have concerns, know that we will work tirelessly with you to alleviate them. Our goal always will be to let you focus on your playing performance, while benefitting from new opportunities, whenever you are ready for them.”

Norman also wrote that the proposed Super Golf League would not conflict with the four major championships or heritage championships.

“LIV Golf has been consistent in its desire to complement the annual tour schedules and wider global golf ecosystem,” Norman wrote. “From the beginning, we designed this so players have the choice to play on any tour, and in LIV Golf events, and actively encourage you to do so. We will not ask you to choose one or the other. This is in addition to, not in place of, your current Tour schedule.

“I look forward to following up with you in the days ahead.  For now, all I ask is that you keep an open mind. It’s 100 percent in your interest to do so.”

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‘We all make mistakes’: Ahead of Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy says Phil Mickelson will be back

“Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back.”

ORLANDO – Two Sundays ago after his final round in the Genesis Invitational north of Los Angeles, Rory McIlroy said Phil Mickelson’s alarming comments concerning the PGA Tour and the proposed breakaway, Saudi Arabia-backed golf league were “naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.”

On Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy said Mickelson, who is immersed in controversy and has lost sponsors and stepped away from the game, should be forgiven.

“I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf,” McIlroy said. “It’s unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there. This whole situation is unfortunate.

“Look, Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back. He’s done such a wonderful job for the game of golf, and he’s represented the game of golf very, very well for the entirety of his career.”

Arnold Palmer: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Thursday tee times | How to watch

In November, Mickelson told longtime golf writer Alan Shipnuck, author of an upcoming, unauthorized biography of Mickelson, that he could overlook atrocities committed by the repressive Saudi Arabia regime and use the outrageous amounts of Saudi money being offered as leverage against the PGA Tour to improve its financial output to players. He also likened the PGA Tour to a “dictatorship.”

Earlier this year, Mickelson told Golf Digest that the PGA Tour’s “greed” was “beyond obnoxious.”

Mickelson issued an apology on social media. KPMG, Heineken/Amstel Light, and Workday have ended their sponsorship with Mickelson. Long-time sponsor Callaway said the company is going to “pause” its relationship with Mickelson.

“Look, we all make mistakes,” McIlroy said. “We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.”

Arnold Palmer: Best bets | Sleeper picks

McIlroy isn’t going anywhere. The world No. 5 has long said he wouldn’t go to the rival league and his allegiance is to the PGA Tour’s flag. This week, McIlroy is at one of his favorite places – Bay Hill. In his last five starts in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he has never been worse than a tie for 10th and won in 2018.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland holds the trophy after his two-shot victory during the final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 18, 2018, in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

“We all know what Arnold Palmer means to the PGA Tour and to the game of golf in general. So it’s always nice to be here and try to sort of remember his legacy and remember what he meant to everyone,” McIlroy said. “It’s one of these courses that I don’t feel like I have to do anything special to compete. I can play within myself. You take care of the par-5s here. You play conservatively the rest of the way, especially how the golf course here has been set up the past few years. You play for your pars, and then you try to pick off birdies on the par-5s and some of the easier holes. If you just keep doing that day after day, you’re going to find yourself around the top of the leaderboard.

“It’s been a course that’s fit my eye from the first time I played here.”

He might think differently after this week.

“It’s a different course setup this year,” he said. “The rough is thick off the fairways, but then what they’ve done is they’ve taken out a lot of these runoff areas off the greens where historically it’s been you’d miss a green and run off and you’d still have the chip off short grass. Now that’s all been filled in with rough.”

But McIlroy still has his eye on the hardware – and the red cardigan sweater given to the winner. McIlroy’s is hanging in his closet.

Rory McIlroy celebrates with the championship trophy after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

“I have not broken it out since then,” he said. “It’s a little scratchy. It wouldn’t be that comfortable on the skin, but it’s obviously very, very nice to have in the wardrobe.

“I think it’s one of the coolest trophies that we have in golf. I wish Arnold would have been around with me on the 18th green then. That would have been the icing on the cake. But I got to spend a couple of years with him here in 2015 and 2016, and I’ll always appreciate those times that we did spend together.”

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Lynch: Just like his Super League idea, Greg Norman’s war against the PGA Tour exists only on paper

Greg Norman’s dream of launching a rival tour is no closer than it was when last he tried three decades ago.

It’s unlikely that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will ever respond to the letter he received this week from Greg Norman, for much the same reason that he probably wouldn’t engage someone wearing a tinfoil hat and shrieking in the street. But if he did reply, Monahan could do worse than to heed the example of James Bailey, a former general counsel for the Cleveland Browns.

In 1974, an Akron, Ohio, lawyer named Dale Cox angrily threatened to sue the Browns over the dangers posed by fans launching paper airplanes around him in the stadium. Bailey returned the complainant’s letter with a famously terse response that has been widely circulated over the years.

“Dear Mr. Cox,” he wrote, “I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters.”

The letter to which Norman signed his name isn’t entirely useless beyond its obvious comedic value. It promised a legal fight that could extend far past the sell-by dates of the few remaining players rumored to be interested in joining Norman’s Saudi-financed Super Golf League, and even the tenures of both Norman and Monahan themselves. It also reinforced a perception that the SGL project has been hampered by bungling amateurism, mismanaged by people who are big on bluster but lacking in specifics.

After congratulating himself on spending decades fighting for the rights of players to be adequately paid—as distinct from the less important rights of the less important people under the boot of his employer—Norman addressed Monahan with a debating dexterity (and command of capitalization) that would be the envy of an eighth-grader.

“The Tour is the Players Tour not your administration’s Tour,” he wrote. “Why do you call the crown jewel in all tournaments outside the Majors “The Players Championship” and not “The Administration’s Championship?”

“You are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you are likely in violation of the law.”

If a man isn’t embarrassed to peck out those words on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government, one supposes we shouldn’t be embarrassed for him.

The great white pilot fish insisted that Monahan can’t ban golfers from playing golf. Monahan hasn’t actually done that, though his comments suggest he believes he can decide whether they play on the tour he runs, much as McDonald’s might think it has a say in whether independent franchisees can simultaneously sell Burger King over the same counter. Norman went on to claim that top players are still interested in joining the League and demanded they be allowed to make a choice, perhaps forgetting that they have already publicly exercised that choice.

“Competition in all aspects of life, sport and business is healthy,” wrote the man whose boss rules by decree and avenges by bonesaw. As intemperate public comments go, the letter had the scent of a jilted suitor’s drunken Facebook post in the wee small hours. It was cheap guff masquerading as a legal threat, but it does indicate that the Saudi story has a ways to go, if only out of spite.

Last week, Rory McIlroy declared the League “dead in the water,” but that’s accurate only if you think the intent is to deliver a quality product fielding the world’s best players in events that engage fans. If you believe instead that the entire enterprise is about sportswashing, then it scarcely matters if competitors are beyond their primes. A Phil Mickelson and a Lee Westwood can be leveraged to present the image of a normalized Saudi state just as easily as a Jon Rahm or a Jordan Spieth. The relevancy of players should be measured only in relation to the Saudi goal, not the end quality of the product.

So what do Norman and his puppeteers do next?

For all the bleating in the letter to Monahan, the Saudis’ grounds for a lawsuit are not clear-cut. It’s difficult to establish actionable injury in claiming the PGA Tour is preventing you from establishing a rival endeavor if you have never actually stated your intent to launch such a business. That changes if players sign up and are then banned by Monahan, but as of now, the Saudis have no declared players and no declared intent to launch.

That leaves potential tactics more suited to irritants than competitors. The Saudis could use economic influence to undermine the DP World Tour’s Middle East schedule. There is precedent. Last year’s announcement of DP World as the old European Tour’s new title sponsor was delayed several months by a Saudi intervention. They could also stage an event in the U.S. and offer enormous appearance fees to players. The PGA Tour has never granted waivers for members to play events held in America opposite its own schedule. A refusal to permit members to play a Saudi event in the U.S. could be used as a Trojan horse to litigate the PGA Tour’s influence over its members and test the limits of the independent contractor status.

None of those options represent a pathway to near-term success for the Saudis.

Until both product and players are unveiled, the Super Golf League exists only on paper, much like the war Norman imagines himself to be waging. What we can deduce from the sophomoric tone of his letter to Monahan is that the Crown Prince’s paper tiger is realizing that his dream of launching a viable rival to the PGA Tour is no closer than it was when last he tried three decades ago.

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Commissioner Jay Monahan says PGA Tour moving on from potential Saudi Arabia-backed golf league

“I told the players we’re moving on and anyone on the fence needs to make a decision.”

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Commissioner Jay Monahan says he has the right to strip PGA Tour membership from players who would join the proposed rival league backed by Saudi Arabia.

Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf Investments, the group behind the potential league, insists Monahan can’t ban players if they join the golf league.

This suggests that if the Super Golf League does launch, the battle between the PGA Tour and the league would not play out on the golf course but in the courtroom. But that’s down the road.

For now, Monahan said the PGA Tour will forge ahead away from the league and the noise associated with it.

“I told the players we’re moving on and anyone on the fence needs to make a decision,” Monahan told the Associated Press on Wednesday, adding that any player joining the Saudi league would lose his Tour membership. “All this talk about the league and about money has been distracting to our players, our partners and most importantly our fans. We’re focused on legacy, not leverage.”

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Monahan met with players at a mandatory meeting on Tuesday at PGA National Resort. According to a player who attended the meeting, Monahan, when asked what would happen if a player signed up with the Saudis, “pointed to the door. We knew what that meant.”

But in a memo sent last week to select players and agents, Norman said any ban of a player would be “utterly impermissible under competition and other laws.” Among the bullet points in the memo, Norman wrote that the PGA Tour would violate antitrust laws were it to ban players, and the Tour will likely crumble under public pressure supporting players. He also accused the PGA Tour of being resistant to “entertain constructive dialogue for the betterment of the game and stakeholders across all sectors, particularly players.”

“Finally,” Norman wrote, “you should know that LIV Golf Investments is on the side of the players. None of us should stand for these egregious acts of bullying by the PGA Tour.”

On Thursday, Monahan received a letter from Norman warning the PGA Tour that this “certainly is not the end” of the rival league.

Ten minutes before the player meeting at PGA National Resort, Phil Mickelson, who has long been associated with the Saudi Arabia golf league, apologized in a statement for “reckless” comments concerning the league and the PGA Tour he made to Alan Shipnuck, the author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar.”

Mickelson told Shipnuck that he and three other players commissioned lawyers to draw up plans for the league and said he hoped to use the league that is guaranteeing exorbitant amounts of money as leverage against the PGA Tour.

“(The PGA Tour has) been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse,” Mickelson told Shipnuck. “And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”

Mickelson said he would try to do so despite acknowledging the Saudi Arabian regime’s history of committing human rights atrocities. In his statement, Mickelson, who said he was going to take time away from the game, also praised LIV Golf Investments, which shares “my drive to make the game better.”

Since releasing his statement, Mickelson’s longtime sponsors KPMG and Amstel Light severed their relationship with the member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

No player has publicly said they are joining the league while a chorus of the game’s biggest names, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, have said they would not join the league.

Koepka, however, said Tuesday he doesn’t think the Saudis will go away.

“I think it’s going to still keep going. I think there will still be talk,” the four-time major winner said. “Everyone talks about money. They’ve got enough of it. I don’t see it backing down; they can just double up, and they’ll figure it out.

“They’ll get their guys. Somebody will sell out and go to it.”

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‘Surely you jest:’ Greg Norman calls out PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan with letter concerning Saudi Arabia-backed golf league

“This is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end,” Norman warned.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The potential Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led golf league isn’t going away.

Despite a chorus of the game’s top players pledging their allegiance to the PGA Tour, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, the league is moving forward.

In a letter sent Thursday to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Norman, the CEO of Live Golf Investments, the group behind the proposed league, said “this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”

“Surely you jest,” Norman began the letter that was released to certain media outlets including Golfweek. “And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath. As has been widely reported, you have threatened the players on the PGA Tour, all of whom are independent contractors, with lifetime bans if they decide to play golf in a league sponsored by anyone other than the Tour.”

Golfweek confirmed Monahan received the letter. At this moment, they have not decided to comment or not.

In a mandatory player meeting Tuesday at PGA National Resort, site of this week’s Honda Classic, Monahan said anyone joining the Saudi league would lose PGA Tour membership.

“I told the players we’re moving on and anyone on the fence needs to make a decision,” Monahan told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “All this talk about the league and about money has been distracting to our players, our partners and most importantly our fans. We’re focused on legacy, not leverage.”

In the letter, Norman said he has fought for the rights of players to fully and properly be rewarded for their efforts.

“Yet for decades, the Tour has put its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it,” Norman wrote. “The Tour is the Players Tour not your administration’s Tour. Why do you call the crown jewel in all tournaments outside the Majors “The Players Championship” and not “The Administration’s Championship?”

“But when you try to bluff and intimidate players by bullying and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you likely are in violation of the law. Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf.  Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like. I know for a fact that many PGA players were and still are interested in playing for a new league, in addition to playing for the Tour.

“What is wrong with that? What is wrong with allowing players to make their own decisions about where to play and how often to play? What is so wrong with player choice? Why do you feel so threatened that you would resort to such a desperate, unwise, and unenforceable threat?”

Norman concluded his letter with this: “Commissioner – this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”

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‘I don’t think it’s right’: Jack Nicklaus on potential Saudi-backed golf league; Xander Schauffele also out

Add Xander Schauffele to those publicly pledging allegiance to the PGA Tour’s flag.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The potential Saudi Arabia-backed golf league has been on the receiving end of numerous body blows of late, with many of the game’s stars including Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau publicly pledging their allegiance to the PGA Tour’s flag.

They joined a chorus that already included Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka.

Add Xander Schauffele to the list.

“My allegiance to the PGA Tour, my belief in positive changes at the verge of being implemented as the PGA Tour, in particular when it comes to shared intellectual property rights, size of purses and overall transparency, never wavered,” Schauffele posted on Twitter on Wednesday.

And Jack Nicklaus weighed in as well.

In a function ahead of the Honda Classic earlier this week, Nicklaus was asked about the league led by his good friend, Greg Norman.

“(The PGA Tour’s) brought millions and millions of dollars to communities, it’s brought great competition, great television,” Nicklaus said. “Why would I not support that? Instead, I’m going to go support for my own benefit, see 40 guys break away from the PGA Tour at the whim of an advertising agency in Saudi Arabia? What happens to the other guys?

“I just don’t like it. I don’t think it’s right.”

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Brooks Koepka believes somebody will ‘sell out’ and join Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League

“They’ll get their guys. Somebody will sell out and go to it,” Koepka said of the Super Golf League.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Phil Mickelson’s popularity may be taking a dive, but Brooks Koepka isn’t so sure the same can be said about the Saudi Arabia-backed golf league.

Koepka, speaking Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Mickelson attempted to save himself from his unflattering comments about the PGA Tour, believes somebody will “sell out” and ultimately opt for the Greg Norman-backed, Saudi-financed Super Golf League.

“I think it’s going to still keep going,” Koepka said. “I think there will still be talk. Everyone talks about money. They’ve got enough of it. I don’t see it backing down. They can just double up and they’ll figure it out. They’ll get their guys. Somebody will sell out and go to it.”

Weak field: Four of world’s top-10 golfers snub hometown event again

Rickie Fowler agreed, saying because the Saudis “love golf” – he calls them “golf nerds” – he does not see talk of a new league fading. Fowler added he believes the PGA Tour is “the best place to play” but “it could get better.”

Some, though, believe Mickelson single-handedly is doing to the Saudi-backed league what Michigan coach Juwan Howard is doing to postgame handshake lines.

McIlroy, ranked No. 5 in the world, believes the league is “dead in the water.”

“Who’s left? Who’s left to go? I mean, there’s no one,” McIlory said last week during the Genesis Invitational. “It’s dead in the water in my opinion. Yeah, I just can’t see any reason why anyone would go.”

But the intentions of two former world No. 1s, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose, and others like Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson remain unknown. Westwood’s thoughts, especially, are a mystery since he signed a non-disclosure agreement with the league.

Most continue to throw their support toward the Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan. Several high profile players like Koepka, Fowler, McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay have stated their allegiance to the Tour.

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Koepka has doubled down on his loyalty to the Tour. Jupiter’s Daniel Berger reiterated his stance Wednesday.

“I’ve always been behind the Tour,” he said, praising Monahan for how he led the Tour through COVID. “There’s no one I would trust more to guide the Tour through all of these difficult times.”

And the criticism aimed toward Mickelson ramped up after Alan Shipnuck, author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” last week published comments Mickelson made in November.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said. “It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

Billy Horschel piled on.

“Idiotic. Complete lies. False.”

Mickelson called the Saudis “scary mother—s to get involved with” and said “we know they killed (Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal) Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay.”

Still, he is calling the league a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates,” saying the Tour has gotten away with “manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse” and the Saudi money gives players leverage against the Tour.

“He can think whatever he wants to think, man,” Koepka said Wednesday. “He can do whatever he wants to do. I think everybody out here is happy. I think a lot of people out here have the same opinion.”

Although Mickelson on Tuesday said his words were “reckless,” he claimed they were off the record and taken out of context. Shipnuck disputed that claim.

A letter Norman sent last week to some golfers and their agents was leaked Wednesday. In it, he said the Tour would violate antitrust laws were it to ban players who joined the the Saudi-backed league, permanently banning golfers would diminish the product, the Tour will likely crumble under public pressure supporting players.

But during a meeting with Tour pros at PGA National Tuesday, Monahan reiterated that any players committing to the Saudi-backed league would be banned from the Tour.

Mickelson’s comments have already cost him sponsorship deals. KPMG, Heineken and Amstel Light have bailed on the controversial Lefty. The PGA Tour would do itself well to jump on board and sever ties with Mickelson.

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Super Golf League timeline: From $100 million offers to ‘dead in the water,’ here’s what we know about the Saudi Arabia-backed league

From $100 million offers to Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments, here’s what we know about the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League.

When Greg Norman signed on with LIV Golf Investments, a new golf entity backed by the Public Investment Fund which operates on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government, as its CEO and commissioner of the Super Golf League in October, it seemed as if the landscape of men’s professional golf was changing right before our very eyes.

Rumors and speculation have surrounded some of the game’s biggest stars for months, but after controversial comments made by Phil Mickelson, as well as prized targets Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau backing the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy dubbed the league that planned to rival the PGA Tour “dead in the water” last week.

From $100 million offers to Donald Trump’s Bedminster and Doral properties being used to host events as soon as this summer, here’s a timeline of the rise (and potential fall) of the Super Golf League.

Professional golf in Saudi Arabia

The first professional golf event in Saudi Arabia — the Saudi International — was held in 2019 as a European Tour event, just months after the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Since its debut, the event has been criticized as a targeted attempt by the Saudi government to “sportswash” its controversial human rights record and improve its image. In 2022, the Public Investment Fund, chaired by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, became the event’s title sponsor.

A handful of big names have made the trip to play over the years, including Johnson, a two-time champion in 2019, 2021. Major champions like Mickelson, DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have also been paid to play the event. After the 2020 tournament, the Saudi International moved from the European Tour to the Asian Tour schedule for 2021. Over the last year, LIV Golf Investments has committed to invest $300 million in the Asian Tour.

Because of this, Golfweek learned back in July that the PGA Tour would refuse to allow players to compete in the controversial tournament in 2022. Tour members must obtain a waiver to compete on other circuits and, because the Saudi event is no longer sanctioned by the European Tour, the PGA Tour noted to managers that permission would no longer be granted.

The Tour pivoted in December when it granted permission for 30 of its members—including Mickelson, Johnson and DeChambeau—to play the 2022 Saudi International, held earlier this month at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

Who’s involved?

That’s the $100 million question. No names have ever been officially announced, but a handful of players have previous ties to golf in Saudi Arabia.

Mickelson’s involvement in a rival, Saudi-backed league dates back to the 2020 Saudi International pro-am, where Lefty reportedly played alongside league representatives.

In July 2020, the Guardian reported that the league had sent formal offer letters worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” to a handful of players including Mickelson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Paul Casey and Koepka. Almost a year later on May 4, 2021, a report in the Telegraph stated that multi-million dollar offers, some ranging from $30-50 million, were sent to Mickelson, Johnson, Scott, Koepka, DeChambeau, Fowler and Rose. That same month, player managers and agents met with the league’s backers on the Tuesday night before the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah, won by Mickelson.

Earlier this month DeChambeau denied being offered $135 million to join the Super Golf League.

Player and Tour reactions

Rory McIlroy was the first big name to denounce rival leagues with his, “For me, I’m out,” quote in February 2020. A month later he would be echoed by Jon Rahm and Koepka. At that time, the players were all ranked inside the top-three in the world.

In May of 2021 after the news of the $30-50 million offers, McIlroy doubled down, saying, “I don’t see why anyone would be for (the new league).” The PGA Tour — which created a “strategic alliance” with the European Tour to combat any rival leagues — has been steadfast in its stance. In a meeting with players that same month, commissioner Jay Monahan drew a line in the sand with multiple sources telling Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch that leaving the Tour for the new league would result in an immediate suspension from the PGA Tour and likely a lifetime ban.

On top of that, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said PGA Tour defectors would be barred from competing in the biennial Ryder Cup against Europe.

“If someone wants to play on a Ryder Cup for the U.S., they’re going to need to be a member of the PGA of America, and they get that membership through being a member of the Tour,” Waugh said last May. “I believe the Europeans feel the same way, and so I don’t know that we can be more clear kind of than that. We don’t see that changing.”

In a direct response to rival golf leagues, the PGA Tour also created the Player Impact Program, a $40 million bonus pool designed to compensate players who drive fan and sponsor engagement. In 2022 the pool increased to $50 million. The Comcast Business Tour Top 10—which bonuses top-performing players at the end of the regular season and before the FedEx Cup playoffs—will double its riches to $20 million. The Tour has also created a new bonus scheme from which most members stand to gain. The Play15 program will give $50,000 to every player who makes at least 15 starts.

Recently Tiger Woods, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Rahm, McIlroy and more all publicly backed the Tour, with Johnson and DeChambeau following suit after Mickelson’s controversial comments in which he said the Saudis are “scary motherf—–s to get involved with.”

Why Greg Norman?

This isn’t the Shark’s first time wading into the waters of a rival golf league.

Norman, the two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Famer who won 20 times on the PGA Tour and 14 times on the European Tour, attempted to get the World Golf Tour off the ground in 1994, but was unsuccessful. The two-time British Open champion’s play was rejected by then-Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who announced the World Golf Championships three years later in 1997.

Golfweek reported in November how the PGA Tour planned to create a series of lucrative, international tournaments that will offer guaranteed money to the world’s best players.

What’s next?

McIlroy asked the question we’re all thinking: “Who’s left? Who’s left to go?”

With the game’s biggest stars all backing the Tour, the SGL has little-to-no momentum on its side and will now have sway mid-tier to aging Tour players, or recruit from the Korn Ferry, Asian and DP World tours.

Initially hoping for a spring of 2022 debut, No Laying Up reported in October that the 12-event league was looking into a few Donald Trump courses including Doral and Bedminster. A report in the Washington Post last week said that “at least two of Trump’s courses in Bedminster, N.J., and Doral, Fla., could be named as sites for the nascent tour, according to the people familiar with the talks, who like others requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Officials from LIV Golf Investments, the apparatus funded by the Saudis to host the tour, have held conversations with the Trump Organization, these people said.”

While McIlroy claimed the league to be “dead in the water,” that might be a bit premature. LIV Golf has put together an array of industry executives, as well as a longtime PGA Tour rules official to help get the league off the ground. With seemingly infinite funds at their disposal, there may still be more to come.

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Author Alan Shipnuck fires back at Phil Mickelson, says claims comments were off the record are false

Mickelson also said his November interview with Shipnuck was off the record. Shipnuck fired back.

Alan Shipnuck recently reported the explosive comments Phil Mickelson made about the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led Super Golf League that would be a direct rival of the PGA Tour.

In a statement released Tuesday by Mickelson, he called his comments “reckless,” apologized, said he had made mistakes and needed to be held accountable.

Mickelson also said his November interview with Shipnuck was off the record.

Shipnuck fired back. The writer for the Fire Pit Collective and author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” stands by the excerpt from his book about Mickelson saying he was one of the architects behind the proposed Saudi Arabia league and despite the country’s oppressive regime, he hoped to use the league that is guaranteeing exorbitant amounts of money as leverage against the PGA Tour.

“He sent me a text on the morning the excerpt dropped. He was less than thrilled,” Shipnuck wrote in a column on the Fire Pit Collective. “Just as in the statement he released on Tuesday afternoon, Mickelson made a half-hearted attempt at revisionist history, trying to say our talk had been a private conversation, but I shut that down real quick.

“He knew I was working on a book about him and asked to speak, saying he wanted to discuss media rights and his grievances with the PGA Tour, both of which inevitably lead back to Saudi Arabia. If the subject of a biography phones the author, the content of that conversation is always going to inform the book, unless it is expressly agreed otherwise.”

There was no agreement, Shipnuck said.

“Not once in our texts or when we got on the phone did Mickelson request to go off-the-record and I never consented to it; if he had asked, I would have pushed back hard, as this was obviously material I wanted for the book,” Shipnuck wrote. “Mickelson simply called me up and opened a vein. To claim now that the comments were off-the-record is false and duplicitous.”

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Phil Mickelson releases statement concerning Saudi Arabia, admits making mistakes and says he’s taking time away from the game

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Just five minutes before a player meeting began at the Honda Classic, Phil Mickelson addressed unflattering comments about the PGA Tour and others associated with the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led Super …

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Just five minutes before a player meeting began at the Honda Classic, Phil Mickelson addressed unflattering comments about the PGA Tour and others associated with the proposed Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led Super Golf League that would siphon off some of the game’s biggest stars and rival the PGA Tour.

In a statement issued by Mickelson, the World Golf Hall of Fame member and six-time major champion also took issue with the person that reported the comments – Alan Shipnuck of the Firepit Collective and author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar.” And in the nearly 550-word release, Mickelson said he was going to take time off and “work on being the man I want to be.”

“Although it doesn’t look this way now given my recent comments, my actions throughout this process have always been with the best interest of golf, my peers, sponsors, and fans,” Mickelson wrote. “There is the problem of off-record comments being shared out of context and without my consent, but the bigger issue is that I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this.”

Mickelson told Shipnuck that he was one of the architects behind the proposed Saudi Arabia league and said he hoped to use the league that is guaranteeing exorbitant amounts of money as leverage against the PGA Tour.

“They’re scary mother——s to get involved with,” Mickelson said of the repressive regime of Saudi Arabia. “We know they killed (Washington Post reporter and US resident Jamal) Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay.

“Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right.

“And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”

Earlier this year, Mickelson told Golf Digest that the PGA Tour’s “greed” was “beyond obnoxious.”

In an excerpt from the book, Shipnuck wrote: “Not once did (Mickelson) say our conversation was off-the-record or on background or just between us or anything remotely like that. He simply opened a vein.”

Despite nine of the top 12 players in the world publicaly stating they are staying with the Tour – Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau joined the growing chorus last week – Mickelson said change needs to come to professional golf.

“Golf desperately needs change, and real change is always preceded by disruption,” Mickelson said. “I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes.

“My experience with LIV Golf Investments has been very positive. I apologize for anything I said that was taken out of context. The specific people I have worked with are visionaries and have only been supportive.

“More importantly they passionately love golf and share my drive to make the game better. They have a clear plan to create an updated and positive experience for everyone including players, sponsors, networks, and fans.”

But it seems Mickelson was stung by criticism aimed his way, including pointed comments from Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down, obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said after the final round of last week’s Genesis Invitational. “A lot of words to describe that interaction he had with Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

Mickelson went with a statement.

“I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and many have been shared with the public,” Mickelson said. “My intent was never to hurt anyone and I’m so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted. This has always been about supporting the players and the game and I appreciate all the people who have given me the benefit of the doubt.

“Despite my belief that some changes have already been made within the overall discourse, I know I need to be accountable. For the past 31 years I have lived a very public life and I have strived to live up to my own expectations, be the role model the fans deserve, and be someone that inspires others. I’ve worked to compete at the highest level, be available to media, represent my sponsors with integrity, engage with volunteers and sign every autograph for my incredible fans.

“I have experienced many successful and rewarding moments that I will always cherish, but I have often failed myself and others too.  The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level.  I know I have not been my best and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”