Did Monahan screw over a PGA Tour player? They feel justified injustice after the unexpected announcement

Money could be compared to fire – it is a good servant but an evil master. The merger of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also has LIV Golf under its wing, has caused quite a stir in the golf world. It is a move that will change world golf forever. Starring Jay Monahan.

The news came like a bolt from the blue over the vast fairway. Behind closed doors, a deal unprecedented in the history of golf was baked. It was not only a shock to the fans, but also to the players of all the organizations.

Nobody knew about the merger. Not even the players of LIV Golf, nor the world aces like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who had fought so hard for the PGA Tour in recent months. They fought alongside PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. But in the final deal, the American Tour boss decided to go his own way.

Monahan had appealed to his players for months not to succumb to the million-dollar lure of the Saudi Arabian venture. He vowed that the PGA Tour was strong enough to remain at the very top of all the golf venues in the world. He spent long hours doing this persuasion, doing dozens of media interviews to keep fans and players loyal to the PGA Tour.

Stars like Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau decided to go their own way and join the LIV. Even at the risk of forever losing the opportunity to play tournaments on the PGA Tour, DP Word Tour or even the famous Ryder Cup.

Then there’s a large (unspecified by name) group of players who might have liked to take a look at LIV Golf, but ultimately stayed loyal to the PGA Tour due to these risks. Where exactly the money flows to the LIV was not a major issue for everyone. After all, the PGA Tour itself has several sponsors who are directly or indirectly connected to the PIF.

Then came the backstabbing and the injustice

Whether they are golfers who have stayed on the PGA Tour for moral or other reasons, they all now have one thing in common. All of these players will now take virtually the same “dirty” money from which they have distanced themselves.

Monahan bypassed all of these players in the final negotiations. By mutual agreement with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, he just sent out a letter telling them this fact.

“This announcement will be followed by a mutual agreement to end all ongoing litigation between the parties involved,” the PGA Tour wrote in an official release at the time. The agreement also includes a move for LIV players to rejoin the PGA Tour.

This too is a matter that has aroused passions among PGA Tour players. The once camaraderie has in some cases turned into deadly animosity. McIlroy, for example, said after the news de media that he continues to hate the LIV and hopes it will end up in the annals of history.

PGA players thus feel a justified injustice. Everything they had worked on together for months was thrown in the bin by their boss within days without asking their own opinion. The ones who are the faces of the organization that makes the PGA Tour famous. Some of them will probably demand compensation as well.

Because of Monahan’s promises, they turned down very lucrative signing bonuses from LIV Golf. So big that even the elite PGA players won’t make that kind of money for a full season. Not to mention the potentially generous earnings they could have made on the LIV circuit.

Still an uncertain future

Along with the anger, there is also talk that Monahan should resign his position for such a screw-up. However, no one still has any idea what world golf will actually look like from next season onwards. Even more than two weeks after the deal, we don’t know any more details.

Some believe the move could flush the LIV down the toilet. That Al-Rumayyan has achieved his goal of breaking into the world of golf and that LIV Golf was just a tool of sorts. The other side, on the other hand, reports that LIV Golf is here and here to stay.

Sources from LIV say that many lucrative partners have already signed up to the venture.

But no one can say exactly which way the future will go. Will all the businesses work in symbiosis with each other and work together to grow golf, as Monahan and co. said after the deal was struck?

Or will the PGA and DPWT players eventually revolt and the whole project fall apart? After all, it is the players themselves who hold the clubs and entertain the crowd with accurate strokes. But money is perhaps an even more powerful weapon than the sport itself. And this golf connection between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world is a perfect example.

Source: PGA Tour, LIV Golf