Zimpapers Logo

The PGA Tour has threatened the world’s leading golfers with an immediate suspension and career ban if they take part in a new breakaway golf league reportedly being backed by Saudi Arabia.

Some of the biggest players in the sport, including world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson, are set to be offered contracts worth up to $100m (€83.3m), as well as equity shares, to take part in the breakaway tour.

Now it has emerged PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan held a meeting with players yesterday (Tuesday), warning them of the consequences if they take part in the venture, the Telegraphreports.

The European Tour is also thought likely to adopt a similar position with the threat of a ban also impacting players’ ability to play in the Ryder Cup team event between the United States and Europe.

The story has echoes of plans by Europe’s leading football clubs to create a European Super League, which ultimately failed following a backlash from fans and politicians.

Faced with that threat, the continental federation Uefa and global governing body Fifa threatened any player taking part in the scheme with a ban from international competitions and suggested clubs could be prevented from taking part in domestic football competitions.

However, lawyers told SportBusiness at the time that the governing bodies could leave themselves open to claims of restraint of trade or monopolistic behaviour if they carried out their threats.

The new event, which is being fronted by Majed-al-Sorour, chief executive of Golf Saudi, is related to the 18-event Premier Golf League, first revealed in January 2020.

Then, the UK-based World Golf Group unveiled plans for the new PGL global tour, offering a total prize purse of $240m. WGG said it had partnered with New York-headquartered merchant bank the Raine Group in the venture, which promised to offer players part ownership of a team franchise to share in “significant equity value”.

The Raine Group is now understood to have backed away from the project while Saudi Arabia has increased its involvement.

The competition has also now been recast as the Super Golf League and proposes launching in September 2022 with 12-to-18 events based on individual and team elements. Australian golf legend and businessman Greg Norman is reported to be advising the Saudis on the project.

Norman was behind an earlier proposal to create a new golf tour in 1994 that ultimately failed to get off the ground. When asked in 2020 how the PGL would differ, WGG said Norman’s plan “resulted in a threat to ban its participants and the creation of four World Golf Championships – all in the US. The world is now a different place, restraint of trade laws have changed, and the League is a very different proposition”.

The PGA Tour has also tried to ward off the threat of the breakaway competition by creating a $40m bonus pool for its 10 biggest stars.

As first reported by Golfweek, the Player Impact Program, which began on January 1, is designed to “recognize and reward players who positively move the needle”.

The bonus is paid to the ten leading golfers based on the player’s position on the FedExCup points list; a player’s popularity in Google Search; a player’s Nielsen Brand Exposure rating; a player’s Q Rating (appeal); a player’s MVP Index rating (engagement on social and digital channels); and Meltwater Mentions (frequency a player generates coverage across media platforms).

According to a document circulated to players, the leading scorer from 2019 was Tiger Woods, followed by Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Adam Scott rounded out the top 10.

McIlroy has already come out in opposition to the new breakaway competition, declaring at a press conference in February 2020 that he preferred the autonomy to play whenever he wanted to. However, he admitted that golf was “very split” over the proposals.

The European Tour held the Saudi International invitational event in Saudi Arabia in February this year but the country’s involvement in the breakaway scheme could impact plans to host any further tournaments there. – Sport Business