Not for the first time, Tyrrell Hatton nailed it. “Golf is in just a bit of a weird spot right now,” the Englishman said last week, and how right he was.
Do you know the question heard most often at golf clubs in both the U.S. and in Europe? It is this: “What is going on in golf?” That is also the question hardest to answer because there are so many concerned parties and so many different aspects that trying to make sense of it all is like attempting to grasp oxygen.
What does the recently signed $3 billion agreement between the Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of private-equity investors who own many major sports outlets in the U.S. and around the world, and the PGA Tour really mean – for the tour, for the players, the spectators and television? $750 million is said to be going to a group of 36 players. But the rest? And to whom?
Where is LIV Golf, financed by the almost immeasurable wealth of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in all of this? Is it in on the conversations between the PGA Tour and SSG? Or is it on the outside looking in? Who is talking to whom, and about what? What will it mean for the players? Which players?
What are the implications of what is going on mainly in the U.S. for the DP World Tour, the younger and sometimes irritating baby brother of the PGA Tour, and the much-vaunted “strategic alliance” between the two tours? And dare one mention the Official World Golf Ranking, the passport to certain events. Are they going to be changed, and if so, in what way and when?
It had been thought that SSG’s investment in the PGA Tour would bulwark the tour against the advances of LIV. In many quarters that was seen as a plus for the PGA Tour and to have quietened criticism of Jay Monahan, the tour’s commissioner. Jordan Spieth certainly thought so. “I don’t think that it (a deal with PIF) is needed now,” Spieth said. “I think the positive would be a unification, but I think that … it’s just something that is not even worth talking about right this second.”
But Rory McIlroy, who was a player director of the PGA Tour’s Policy Board before stepping down in November, did not agree with his friend and rival. They had an hour-long conversation before agreeing to disagree. “If I were PIF and I was hearing that, the day after doing this SSG deal, it wouldn’t have made me too happy,” McIlroy said.
Jon Rahm, the reigning Masters champion who signed with LIV in December in a deal reportedly worth $300 million, is banned from PGA Tour events but intends to play on the DP World Tour this year as and when he can. He has not resigned his membership of that tour and thus is eligible for certain events. “I would love to play in the Spanish Open if it doesn’t conflict with LIV’s schedule,” the proud Spaniard said. He added that he would miss playing in the BMW PGA Championship, in mid-September, one week before the Open de España, at the DP World Tour’s home at Wentworth in England, and that he hoped to qualify for the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November.
There is one certainty amidst all this uncertainty and that is that nothing should be done to harm the appeal and success of the Ryder Cup, the greatest team event in golf and one once described in London’s Times newspaper as perhaps the fifth most important and most watched sports event in the world.
Its elegant golden trophy may be the size and weight of a bottle of mayonnaise, but it punches with the weight and power of a barrel of finest Bordeaux.
It is arguably the PGA of America’s most prized possession, and the quadrennial home matches represent a huge payday for the DP World Tour. Income from the Rome event is said to be three times that of Paris in 2018, which was itself a record. And that income floats the DP World Tour for four years. So important is the Ryder Cup to the DP World Tour that there are 20 to 30 executives working full-time on various aspects of the biennial competition. The day after Europe’s victory in Rome, Guy Kinnings, Europe’s Ryder Cup director, said: “We are not only thinking of Bethpage Black in two years. We are already working on Adare Manor in 2027.”
As to players’ qualifications for their respective teams and McIlroy’s viewpoint that if necessary the rules had to be changed for Europe to include Jon Rahm, captain Luke Donald closed down that discussion last week: “Rory was a little inaccurate in terms of changing the rules for Jon to be a part of it because currently … you have to be European and a member of the DP World Tour. Jon and Tyrrell, as far as I know, are still members of the European Tour and would be eligible. Nothing has changed there.” Adrian Meronk, who was a contender for Donald’s victorious 2023 team but was not selected, recently joined LIV. He remains a member of the DP World Tour.
Donald continued: “Do I see Jon and Tyrrell on the team? It’s really hard for me to answer that question now. What I did in my captaincy last year was control what I can control. We’re seven months out probably since qualification starts. We have all this talk about potential deals with the PGA Tour, with the DP World Tour, with PIF. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next seven months. I don’t really need to know what’s going to happen because qualification for the Ryder Cup won’t start until then.”
Oh, and by the way, as if there isn’t enough to talk about in golf already, a successor is being sought for Martin Slumbers, who will step down as chief executive and secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews later this year. In April, Keith Pelley, CEO of the DP World Tour since 2015, will return to his native Canada to become president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in Toronto. He will be replaced by Kinnings, currently Pelley’s deputy.
“Even though it might seem disjointed and unclear, there is a sequence to all this,” a DP World Tour executive said on the condition of anonymity. “Everything must be taken step by step. I think it is fair to say that as the PGA Tour is financially stronger, then so is the DP World Tour because of the strategic alliance. It’s a jigsaw puzzle at the moment. SSG is part of the puzzle, and what has to be decided is whether PIF are going to be involved. I think you can speculate the answer is ‘yes’ because, remember, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF, is also chairman of Newcastle United Football Club, and J Henry, of Fenway Sports Group a key figure for SSG, is principal owner of Liverpool Football Club, so they have football at least in common.”
Meanwhile, the Players Championship begins in four weeks and the Masters Tournament in eight. Those are two immutable events, their dates set in stone. But as to much else, who knows? Hatton was right. Golf is indeed in a bit of a weird spot right now.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Jon Rahm's move to LIV Golf has caused waves that ripple throughout the golf world.
Elianto, Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images