Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the PGA and DP World Tour’s framework agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund being announced, but any hopes that that would bring an end to the feuding, sniping and bad blood have proven to be wide of the mark.
Jon Rahm’s acquisition by LIV back in December was a clear indicator that the hatchet had not yet been buried, and Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk were other big names who followed in the new year. But even though there have been meetings between Jay Monahan and Governor of the PIF Yasir Al-Rumayyan and an additional meeting between Al-Rumayyan and members of the PGA Tour Policy Board, it was confirmed that acrimony still existed when Richard Bland, a LIV Golf member, won the Senior PGA Championship a fortnight ago and was informed that PGA Tour Champions membership, which a senior major victory would usually afford, wouldn’t be offered.
Whether or not Bland would have had any interest in joining the Champions Tour circuit is unclear, but the $20 million purses he competes for on LIV dwarf any of those on the Champions Tour, so it is unlikely, but the denial of his playing privileges was still seen as a cheap shot by many LIV players as Bland had never been a PGA Tour member and therefore should not be sanctioned by the PGA Tour for opting to join LIV.
Henrik Stenson, who had famously been selected as European Ryder Cup captain before effectively being fired after opting to make the jump to LIV instead, was one of the first to speak out from Bland’s corner.
“I think that officially when the framework agreement came in place it was supposed be a truce,” Stenson said. “Then when Richard Bland won the Senior PGA a week ago he found on social media that ‘well you aren’t going to get any starts on the Champions Tour because you play LIV’. I mean Richard has never even been a member of the PGA Tour but just because he plays LIV he is not able to play on the Champions Tour it is how I understand it. Behind the scenes it is not as if everyone is holding hands and singing songs together, so there is still things to be worked out… It has not been ideal but hopefully brighter minds than us can come to a solution.”
It can be argued, and not without merit, that the pursuit of Rahm was contrary to the ethos of the framework agreement, but the issue raised its head once again this week as Bernd Wiesberger and Laurie Canter, both of whom were former LIV players but are now back competing on the DP World Tour, were informed that they would not be allowed to play in the PGA Tour’s ISPO Championship and Barracuda Championship, which allow a significant portion of DP World Tour players to play.
“Same here,” Wiesberger wrote on X in response to a post by ‘Flushing It’ containing Stenson’s quotes. “Just received a letter by the pgat banning me from playing the isco and barracuda. Never been a member either. Who knows what’s going on over there…”
Same here. Just received a letter by the pgat banning me from playing the isco and barracuda. Never been a member either. Who knows what’s going on over there… https://t.co/XkCvcJMh1j
— Bernd Wiesberger (@BWiesberger) June 7, 2024
He further clarified that he was only trying to say that, since he’d never been a PGA Tour member either, he’d never signed up for the regulations which are now being used for his exclusion.
When one X user pointed out that playing on LIV was always going to mean exclusion from PGA Tour events and told him to spare the fake outrage, Wiesberger responded with: “Sure. No problem with that. But I have also settled all my fines/sanctions with the DPWT. Last time I checked these two events are in the DPWT schedule, yet a Tour, which I’ve never been a Member of, prevents me from playing those Events. Not complaining. Just explaining.”
Either way, a year on, the waters are still as muddied as ever and no end to the feud is in sight.
Leave a comment