BY RON GREEN JR.
When organizers for the 2022 Saudi International announced last week the names of 28 PGA Tour and DP World Tour players who have committed to play in Feb. 3-6 event, a straightforward press release felt like a line-in-the-sand moment for the professional game.
Will the players, including defending champion Dustin Johnson, be given releases by their respective tours to play in what is now an Asian Tour event, or will they be denied those releases?
Will it be decided by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and his European counterpart Keith Pelley, or could it become a legal battle as players press the issue of being allowed to pick and choose where they play?
Will players go anyway if their tours deny them a release, opting for whatever disciplinary action may come?
“We have not granted any conflicting event releases for the Saudi International tournament,” a PGA Tour statement said. “Per PGA Tour regulations, a decision on conflicting event releases can be made up until 30 days before the event’s first round.”
The list of committed players, some of whom are under contract with Golf Saudi (which sponsors the event), includes Abraham Ancer, Adri Arnaus, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey, Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Dufner, Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio García, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Jason Kokrak, Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Harold Varner III, Jhonattan Vegas, Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood.
“I think we’re independent contractors and we should be able to play where we want to play. So in my opinion I think the tour should grant releases."
RORY McILROY
It sets up as a battle about control between the players and the organizations of which they are members. It also comes as Saudi-backed LIV Golf Investments is planning to announce a new league that will presumably begin play next year and is to be built around the presence of many top players, none of whom has committed publicly to join the new group.
On one side, the PGA Tour is a non-profit, member-run organization and players who join agree to abide by the organization’s rules.
The other side argues players are independent contractors and therefore free to play where they choose.
For some players on the list, the Saudi International has been on their schedules since it debuted in 2019. Johnson has played in the event all three years, winning it twice. Westwood has played all three years.
Mickelson has made the trip the past two years, as has Ancer. DeChambeau played it for the first time last year and Schauffele is scheduled to debut there in February.
The burgeoning threat has roiled the waters. Several top players – including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas – have expressed their commitment to the PGA Tour, though McIlroy acknowledged at the Hero World Challenge there is room for compromise.
“I think we’re independent contractors and we should be able to play where we want to play,” McIlroy said. “So in my opinion I think the tour should grant releases. It’s an Asian Tour event, it’s an event that has OWGR rankings, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t.”
Change, McIlroy added, could benefit the PGA Tour.
“For me … the PGA Tour is the best place in the world to play,” he said. “I’m not saying that the whole thing needs to be blown up and we do a different thing here. I think if people want golf to be more innovative and they want it to be more engaging and they want to see different concepts, there’s no reason why the PGA Tour can’t do that themselves, you know?
“I’m certainly not saying that I want anything else to come of this, but there are certain elements to different concepts of professional golf that I do see merits in. But I don’t see any reason why the tour couldn’t do it themselves.”
There remains the possibility that the PGA Tour will not issue conflicting event releases for the February event in Saudi Arabia. For some that will raise the temperature around the conflict.
Justin Rose, who has played in two Saudi Internationals before this but is skipping 2022, did not skirt the issue when asked.
“If the PGA Tour maybe doesn’t give the releases, I think it is only going to heighten the tensions around what is going on right now in the world of golf and amongst the players," the 2013 US Open champion said. "Obviously, Saudi is controversial, but I’ve been down there and I enjoyed my time there. It’s actually a fun golf tournament and a good golf course. Listen, they are trying to edge towards a more socially acceptable stance on their policies and you’ve got to start somewhere, right?
“Guys like Xander and Collin Morikawa deserve the chance to play in the Middle East and show off their games. It’s good for growing the game of golf and it’s part of your responsibility as a talented young golfer who is doing incredibly well to do that the best you can.”
Morikawa, meanwhile, said his agent has listened to entreaties from the new groups but said he remains focused on playing the PGA Tour.
“You don’t want to be left out obviously if things go one way versus the other,” he said. “But like I said, I’m here to play out on tour and that’s my focus right now.
“It is an individual sport and to change that and to think about all that at 24, knowing that like I’m in the midst of like changing up what professional golf is, it’s crazy, right? So stepping out of those lines, stepping out of those comfort zones of what I’ve dreamt about doing my entire life is kind of weird to think about.
“To be in this position so young, so early on in my career, it’s been great, right? But these are decisions that a lot of guys are making. You see some guys or hearing (about) some guys that might be a little older, might be a little later into their careers, want to do this versus the other. Slowly guys are taking their position.”
Schauffele, who is to make his Saudi International debut next year, felt the PGA Tour’s stance of asking players not to play was almost dictatorial.
“I feel it’s very absolute,” he said. “I feel like there just needs to be some sort of counter in the way certain things work. I’ll try to do what I need to do and they’ll tell me what I can and can’t do at a certain point, but I feel like they need to counter. They can’t just tell me, ‘No, you can’t do this and then just kick rocks, kid.’
“I try to play golf. I have an agent and a manager and that’s their job. I’m on the green grass and they’re supposed to handle all the talks. Nothing too crazy has come up to me yet from my manager.”
Woods made his position clear in the Bahamas last week.
“I’ve decided for myself that I’m supporting the PGA Tour, that’s where my legacy is,” Woods said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have won 82 events on this tour and 15 major championships and been a part of the World Golf Championships, the start of them and the end of them. So I have an allegiance to the PGA Tour.”
Joy Chakravarty contributed to this report from Nassau, Bahamas.