Strong reaction to news that golf’s rival threesome now share the same umbrella

Bernie McGuire
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Phil Mickelson (Photo by Luke Walker/WME IMG/WME IMG via Getty Images)

Bernie McGuire

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Not only the golf world but sport in general is soaking-in the shock news earlier today, and coming just three days before the first-year anniversary of the maiden LIV Tour event in north London, that the three main warring bodies in men’s professional golf are shaking hands.

The PGA Tour and its sister body the DP World Tour have agreed to join forces with their enemy, LIV Golf, signing a deal with LIV Golf’s Saudi-backed financial sponsors that will bring the three golfing bodies under the same umbrella.

In a statement, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who just one year ago was calling LIV Golf an “an irrational threat”, said, “After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love.”

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What Monahan said afterwards was that the ‘tension’ that had been in place was now gone and called on those criticising the news in an interview with CNN soon after the historic deal to think ahead of the benefits to the game in 10-years’ time.

Hereunder is both LIV Golf, PGA Tour and other early player reaction to the news:

Phil Mickelson tweeted three words to show his delight at the news: “Awesome day today”.

Of course, the six-time major champion has become one of the more disliked LIV players, in what was a complete 360 from his overwhelming popularity prior to joining LIV.

Brooks Koepka did not hesitate to rub salt in the wound.

Immediately after Tuesday’s bombshell news of the controversial LIV Golf circuit agreeing to a merge with the PGA Tour, Koepka took a shot at Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst who has been among the Saudi-backed tour’s most outspoken critics.

“Welfare Check on Chamblee,” Koepka tweeted.

Chamblee, who is also a former PGA Tour pro, has frequently spoken out against LIV, accusing the players who took the payouts to join the rebel circuit — including Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed — of helping the Saudi regime “sports wash” their image.

Last year, Reed filed a $750 million lawsuit against Chamblee and the Golf Channel, with the 2018 Masters winner accusing the analyst of “calculated, malicious” attacks that have “had a direct effect on his livelihood.”

Since, Chamblee has been a target of LIV golfers’ ire — and has doubled down on his attacks against the rival circuits.

The reliably droll Joel Dahmen tweeted a dig at LIV Golf’s team format:“I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour!”

Wesley Bryan

PGA Tour player had reason to be unhappy in the manner the Tour advised its players tweeting: “Love finding out info on Twitter. This is amazing. Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer”.

Of course, we now know Monahan wrote to each player.

Collin Morikawa

Double major winning Collin Morikawa, like Bryan, expressed his disappointment with the PGA Tour.

“I love finding out morning news on Twitter,” Morikawa tweeted.

Mackenzie Hughes

The Canadian got onto Twitter with much the same message as his PGA Tour colleagues: “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”
Michael Kim
Fellow American PGA Tour player Michael Kim wrote: “Very curious how many people knew this deal was happening. About 5-7 people? Player run organization right?”

Ben An

“I’m guessing the LIV teams were struggling to get sponsors and PGA Tour couldn’t turn down the money.

“Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”

Amnesty International

Amnesty International expressed concern at what it saw as a further attempt by Saudi Arabia to launder its human rights record through the vehicle of sport.

“While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,” Amnesty UK’s Felix Jakens said.

“It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.”

R&A

R&A CEO Martin Slumbers welcomed the news of the agreement, writing in a statement: “We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come.

“This agreement represents a huge step toward achieving that goal for golf and we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally.”

Scott Van Pelt 

Scott Van Pelt took to Twiiter quoting rapper Nino Brown’s famous line: “Always business, never personal.”

“So, you preach loyalty to a tour and convince guys not to take 8 and 9 figure deals based, in part, on that loyalty and, in part, on the source of the money,” Van Pelt wrote.

“Then those guys find out on Twitter YOU took the very same money?”

US SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (Democrat)

Sen. Chris Murphy was among those to immediately express skepticism of the PGA Tour’s prior supposed commitments to human rights:

“So weird. 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,” Murphy tweeted in response to the news.

“I guess maybe their concerns weren’t really about human rights?”

…  More to follow

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