AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Augusta National, as if anybody didn’t know, bends the knee to tradition. On the Monday night of Masters week, it’s the Amateurs Dinner in the clubhouse followed on Tuesday night by the Champions Dinner when those present eat a menu ordered by the reigning champion. Wednesday afternoon is devoted to the Par 3 Contest, which is a festival of family fun as much as a test of golf. On Thursday morning, the honorary starters ceremony involving Jack Nicklaus, 83, Gary Player, 87, and Tom Watson, 73, takes centre stage.
Shoehorned into this schedule is a dinner on the Tuesday night given by the DP World Tour and always held at the Augusta Country Club. Originally intended for media from the UK and the US, it has morphed into an event attended by some of the great and good in golf – and journalists – and lavish thanks are given by DP World executives to their American contacts.
It is a jovial and genial occasion that was enlivened this year by that morning’s unconfirmed story in The Times of London saying that the decision in the Sport Resolutions arbitration case between the DP World Tour and LIV Golf had come down in favour of the DPWT. If you thought you detected a smile on the face of tour CEO Keith Pelley as he moved from group to group before and after the dinner, you were right, even though he and his staff refused to comment until the decision had been made public on Thursday.
In sum, what the decision said was this: Pelley had acted lawfully in refusing releases to certain players; the DPWT regulations are lawful and enforceable; the 16 originally sanctioned players who included Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio García committed serious breaches of the Code of Behaviour of the DP World Tour Regulations by playing in LIV Golf events despite their release requests having been refused. “As a result,” the arbitration concluded, “all of the players’ challenges therefore failed, their appeals are dismissed in their entirety and the £100,000 fines originally imposed must now be paid within 30 days.” It might not have been a victory by a dog’s licence (7 and 6, a reference to the cost of said item in old British money: pounds, shillings and pence), but it was certainly more than by one hole.
It had all begun last June when PGA Tour and DP World Tour players competed in the inaugural LIV Golf event at Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London. Greg Norman, the commissioner of this breakaway tour, was everywhere that week, a spokesman for LIV which, given that some of his remarks were crass and clumsy, may not have been a wise move. Questions were raised about the involvement of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is chairman of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf’s source of money, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the fund. As well as this appointment – and this is important – Al-Rumayyan is chairman of Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, and Newcastle United, a top-flight British football club.
“We welcome the decision by Sport Resolutions, and we really are delighted that they have recognised the responsibility that we have as an organization to administer our rules and regulations."
Keith Pelley
No expense was spared for the launch event. Never mind the players, their caddies were flown to the venue and put up in hotels. Ari Fleischer, a White House spokesman in the presidency of George W. Bush, was present at press conferences to help deal with any tricky questions, and all players were briefed as to the answers they should give to certain questions. All in all, it was quite a production.
The outcome for the players who competed in St Albans was that they were immediately fined and suspended for two weeks. This ruling was postponed after an appeal by certain players who were then granted an injunction and continued to play in DP World Tour events until Sport Resolutions’ arbitration tribunal met in London and delivered its verdict.
On Thursday morning, once the news was public, Pelley spoke on a Zoom call to British journalists. Wearing a natty waistcoat and open-neck shirt and his omnipresent coloured spectacles, he spoke calmly. He was neither gloating nor unappreciative.
“We welcome the decision by Sport Resolutions, and we really are delighted that they have recognised the responsibility that we have as an organization to administer our rules and regulations,” he said. “I think that's really important because as I've said repeatedly, these rules and regulations were created by the members and for the members and to protect the members, and the members signed them. That is something that we are very happy that Sport Resolutions recognise that had and gave complete clarity to the situation.”
Later in the day, there came news that a US judge in California had ruled in favour of the PGA Tour in a case brought by LIV, which had complained that the PGA Tour activities were anti-competitive. This was followed by a rumour that world-ranking points would not be granted to LIV events, though this was later rowed back on.
All in all, even with the use of British understatement, it could not be said to have been a good few days for LIV Golf.
After his first round in the Masters, García declined to comment on the outcome, metaphorically curling his lip at being questioned about the verdict and what it might mean to him. In recent years, a gulf has become obvious between the previously cheerful García and the press. This was clear in his disdain when he was asked for a comment about the tribunal’s verdict, a question put to him outside the clubhouse. “I am not aware of it,” he said dismissively and disingenuously. “How can I talk about something I don’t know?”
But Thomas Pieters, like García a member of Europe’s 2016 Ryder Cup team, said: “I would love to play at home. I would love to play my home Open. I don’t see how it’s good for the game if I have to skip the tournament.”
Pelley left on Friday morning to visit his son, who is at college in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and as he flew north he reflected on the events of the week. It had been intense but good. There were many decisions to be made and questions to be answered, and he rightly said: “… it will be a busy couple of weeks, not that it hasn't been a busy couple of years from COVID all the way through to this, but we are delighted with the result.”
He added: “The work begins now.”
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