Overnight,the very commissioner who had boasted that no one ever had to apologise for playing for the PGA,announced the decision that will see him,I suspect,for the rest of his life,at least shift uncomfortably if not actually apologise. The PGA and LIV have merged and,with the European Tour,will operate as part of a global entity,all under the financial umbrella of the Public Investment Fund! (Whose head,according to the US intelligence agencies,orderedthe bone-saw murder in 2018 of uppity journalist Jamal Khashoggi – but don’t get me started.)
It is breathtaking,an abandonment of the moral high ground so fast and unexpected,such a craven cave-in at warp speed,that it will take at least a few days to understand the full implications.
People like McIlroy and Woods,who had maintained the rage,were completely abandoned by Monahan. So was Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama,who is said to haveknocked back $580 million to go to LIV.
Greg Norman? Also abandoned by LIV. He was so far removed from the decision to merge,he was not even aware of it until shortly before it was announced.
Everyone else?
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.Credit:Getty
Mostly,as far as I can see,outraged.The New York Times ran an emblematic smattering of those responses.
“So weird”,said American congressman Chris Murphy,a Democrat,on Twitter. “PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudis’ human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport. I guess maybe their concerns weren’t really about human rights?”
He was joined by Republican Chip Roy:“In the end,it’s always about the money. Saudi Arabia just bought themselves a one-world golf government.”
The players?
Well not for nothing was it reported that,at a meeting,they gave a standing ovation when one oftheir number said Monahan should resign.
PGA player Mackenzie Hughes tweeted:“Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”
Brandel Chamblee,an analyst for the Golf Channel,who has been perhaps the most outspoken critic,said:“This is one of the saddest days in the history of professional golf. I do believe that the governing bodies,the entities,the professional entities,have sacrificed their principles for profits.”
Precisely. The whole thing was so shocking,it was hard to get our heads around. In some ways,to truly get LIV from the beginning,you had to be the sort of person where occupying the moral high ground was never a consideration at the best of times.
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Who better then than Donald Trump to call it right from the start. This is what he wrote a year ago on his Truth Social platform:“All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA,in all of its different forms,will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes,and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year. If you don’t take the money now,you will get nothing after the merger takes place,and only say how smart the original signees were.”
Correct,in every particular.
And LIV could have done itself a big favour if it had done then,what it appears to have done now:forget the players,and just go after signing the most influential executive. That’s Monahan.