Double standards as the PGA criticizes the LIV Golf Tour before it even reaches Bangkok

[ASEAN NOW News]

Whether you agree or disagree with Saudi Arabia’s human rights record LIV Golf has lifted the lid off many double standards.

 

The PGA commissioner Jay Monahan has been particularly vocal along with Keith Pelly at DP World and the entire Golf Chanel team, against the concept of the LIV Tour and its early defectors.

 

It’s all about t money they cry not about the true game of golf!!!

 

Yet you ask half the field in the recent PGA or DP World tournaments who missed the cut, and all will be out of pocket.

 

Playing on the Korn Ferry and Challenge Tours are also expensive too.

 

It is OK for the top elite to say players are losing their integrity, but how much have McIlroy, Spieth and Thomas got stashed away in the Cayman Islands?

 

PGA Tour salary

 

A review of the tour's tax return filed for 2020 shows Jay Monahan is actually credited with earning $14.1 million, by far the largest package he has received in his tenure.

 

The only golfer on tour who made more that year was Dustin Johnson.

 

If players are lucky, after deducting caddie fees, their travel expenses, coaches, physios, and income tax, most on the PGA Tour may end up with between $500,000 to a $1 million.

 

But that may only last for a few years, as some could lose the cards.

 

Stenson

 

 

Henrik Stenson's support of the European and PGA Tours has been loyal for a long time.

 

However, he is not now at the top of the leader board every week, so his income has dropped.

 

Sure, it was great to be invited to become the European Ryder Cup Captain, but the work involved digs deep into your playing time.

 

He also lost a large chunk of his savings in a well-publicized financial fraud, so when Greg Norman came knocking it was no surprise that he signed up for LIV Golf.

 

Double Standards

 

ARAMCO the Saudi oil conglomerate’s logos are all over the track at the Paul Ricard F1 track in France this weekend.

 

Even the PGA’S priced money fest the FedEx Cup is tarnished, as it was announced that FedEx is investing over $400million in building the brand in Saudi Arabia.

 

I am sure if the likes of Cameron Smith and Hideki Matsuyama sign up for the LIV Golf tour, then the existing PGA Tour’s sponsors will demand that the tours get together and work out a sensible new format.

 

Meanwhile, the hard-working Asian Tour players are sitting pretty with LIV Golf pouring huge sums into uplifting the prize money for all Asian Tour events.

 

Once the tickets do go on sale for the visit of Dustin, Henrik, Westy, Bryson, Phil, and maybe Cameron Smith to Stonehill GC outside Bangkok in October, expect them to sell out quickly.

 

It will be a lot of fun and there will be some great golf to enjoy too.

 

 

 

[hotandsticky]

Greedy b4stards!

 

 

Soldiers of fortune who have little regard for the traditions of golf - there is more to golf than money as evidence by the wonderful spectacle at St Andrews last week.

 

I can understand some older players (like Mickleson and Westwood) taking King's Shilling but I have greater regard for like of Harrington who haven't.

[scubascuba3]

Also what's weird is last year DP World Tour played Saudi International, no issues then but now LIV it's a big problem, only a problem now because both tours are losing golfers.

 

It also feels like PGA and DP World tour have tarnished the Ryder cup, not the same now

[Lacessit]

I'm not sure what the uproar is about, I'd say the virtuous condemnation ends when a critic of the Khashoggi murder is filling their car with gas refined from Saudi oil, or America sells advanced weaponry to the Saudis.

IMO golfers should be able to earn where they can, they don't have the security of knowing they will be in the same job for forty odd years. Some only last on the PGA tour for a few years.

It's not as if the LIV tour is memorable in any way. The Saudi money and their golf courses will be gone in 20-30 years, when renewables replace virtually all fossil fuel production in the energy sector.

[keithsimmonds]

4 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

 

 

It also feels like PGA and DP World tour have tarnished the Ryder cup, not the same now

How have they tarnished the Ryder Cup...in your opinion.

[keithsimmonds]

4 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Also what's weird is last year DP World Tour played Saudi International, no issues then but now LIV it's a big problem, only a problem now because both tours are losing golfers.

 

 

Was last years Tournament ...a 54 hole no cut shotgun start?

[Sparktrader]

Id take the cash. Golf is a 72 silly holes in dirt.

 

Nothing special.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

13 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

How have they tarnished the Ryder Cup...in your opinion.

I'm less interested in watching with some key characters no longer involved, even John Rahm was saying that Garcia has been treated badly. With PGA and DP World being very negative makes me want to watch it less.

 

You think Ryder cup is uneffected?

[tgw]

It seems like the system of international competitive golf is flawed.

 

I don't know enough about it to hint at solutions, but I can point out what I don't like:

- I don't like the European Tour's "new" name, DP World Tour. It sounds like it has been sold out.

- Yes, I think PGA and DPWT have tarnished the Ryder Cup, they put restrictions on who can play. I think citizenship should be the only criteria for any player to participate in either team. I also think the Ryder Cup should update its format. Same for Solheim.

- I don't like how PGA and DPWT think they can decide what tournaments players take part in. They can put up a minimum number of tour tournaments the player must play in order to stay on that particular tour, and that's it. Ideally, they would also automatically qualify top players to take part in top tournaments no matter where they play.

[scubascuba3]

8 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

Was last years Tournament ...a 54 hole no cut shotgun start?

what's that got to do with it? PGA aren't complaining because of the format

[keithsimmonds]

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

what's that got to do with it? PGA aren't complaining because of the format

No mention of PGA in your original post. It was a DP Tour event played last year....

[keithsimmonds]

35 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'm less interested in watching with some key characters no longer involved, even John Rahm was saying that Garcia has been treated badly. With PGA and DP World being very negative makes me want to watch it less.

 

You think Ryder cup is uneffected?

So your less interested. Westwood for one was complaining at last years Wentworth event of the pressure he and others were put under to make the Ryder Cup on merit/Qualification.....something he no longer has to worry about then... same goes for Poulter who on recent form would struggle to play for "Bunker Boys"

To adopt your Thailand stance (it,s all about me) i could not care less about what golfers earn or where they play or on what Tour....but to try and compare the format of the existing tours with "Liv Tour" and in some way say they have the same merit is laughable....they will probably be playing a Texas Scramble next.

I will though (which is big of me) watch the upcoming "Liv Tournament"...if i can find a Tv big enough to watch them all T off at the same time.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Id take the cash. Golf is a 72 silly holes in dirt.

 

Nothing special.

 

 

I'm really looking forward to the day when golf haters post something intelligent.

[Sparktrader]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

I'm really looking forward to the day when golf haters post something intelligent.

Played Royal Sydney, Lakes etc.

 

Boring after a while. Bad for back.

[tgw]

3 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Boring after a while. Bad for back.

Boring for some. Okay. I can understand that.

It never got boring for me.

I taught golf for a while and saw that some players, even with practice, just don't make progress at all, remain completely unable to shape shots. That's a case where I completely understand that it gets boring.

Where it gets mysterious is that some of these players kept playing.

 

But ... it's not bad for the back, at least not with a correct swing ... or a correct back ????

[Sparktrader]

2 minutes ago, tgw said:

Boring for some. Okay. I can understand that.

It never got boring for me.

I taught golf for a while and saw that some players, even with practice, just don't make progress at all, remain completely unable to shape shots. That's a case where I completely understand that it gets boring.

Where it gets mysterious is that some of these players kept playing.

 

But ... it's not bad for the back, at least not with a correct swing ... or a correct back ????

Most pros get back issues

Very bad no matter your swing

[tgw]

31 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Most pros get back issues

Very bad no matter your swing

well, there is something like overdoing it.

overuse injuries are common in almost all sports, maybe except Bridge and Chess.

runners and tennis players get joints issues,
boxers brain damage,
weight lifters can snap tendons, etc.

 

[billsmart]

I think all the criticism and restrictions placed on the LIV Golf Tour and those golfers who join it are justified. I'll never watch an LIV tournament and will drop all my support for those golfers who participate in one. ????

[CMBob]

It would be refreshing if the LIV guys at least publicly were honest as to why they joined the LIV tour......simply because they got paid a boatload of money to do so (more money that any one of them could possibly make for the rest of their golf lives).  One wonders why the LIV guys aren't simply admitting that.

Then, of course, is the consideration of the source of the money and why the Saudi's would essentially throw away 2-3 billion dollars (real money!) to get it started.  Their offer to Jack Nicklaus ("north of 100 million dollars" according to Nicklaus) is especially puzzling/concerning to me.  Why would they offer that incredible sum to somebody who doesn't even play professional golf anymore?  Simply an attempt to buy prestige? 

Finally, while I admittedly have never been a big fan of Greg Norman, one at least wonders if he jumped into this simply for his claimed "love of the game of golf."  Come on, Greg, how much money are the Saudi's paying you to do this?

 

 

[spidermike007]

Alot of the has beens and guys who cannot win will defect. It takes a certain kind of desperation to accept big money from serial killers, and then pretend all is fine. The Saudis are one of the true enemies of the West 

[Sparktrader]

1 hour ago, CMBob said:

It would be refreshing if the LIV guys at least publicly were honest as to why they joined the LIV tour......simply because they got paid a boatload of money to do so (more money that any one of them could possibly make for the rest of their golf lives).  One wonders why the LIV guys aren't simply admitting that.

Then, of course, is the consideration of the source of the money and why the Saudi's would essentially throw away 2-3 billion dollars (real money!) to get it started.  Their offer to Jack Nicklaus ("north of 100 million dollars" according to Nicklaus) is especially puzzling/concerning to me.  Why would they offer that incredible sum to somebody who doesn't even play professional golf anymore?  Simply an attempt to buy prestige? 

Finally, while I admittedly have never been a big fan of Greg Norman, one at least wonders if he jumped into this simply for his claimed "love of the game of golf."  Come on, Greg, how much money are the Saudi's paying you to do this?

 

 

3 day events good for Greg

[Sparktrader]

Nicklaus is 82yo

[Berkshire]

It'll be hard for Trump to weasel out of this one.  The next LIV tournament is being held at his golf course....which is pretty close to where 9/11 happened.  He's going to be getting some negative press....as if he needed any more.

 

[Dozens of family members and survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will head to former President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club next week to protest the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf event there.]

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/24/trump-9-11-liv-golf-protest-00047655

 

[Berkshire]

2 hours ago, CMBob said:

Their offer to Jack Nicklaus ("north of 100 million dollars" according to Nicklaus) is especially puzzling/concerning to me.  Why would they offer that incredible sum to somebody who doesn't even play professional golf anymore? 

Nicklaus was offered Greg Norman's job, to be the face of the LIV tour.  Not to play.

[Thingamabob]

20 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I'm not sure what the uproar is about, I'd say the virtuous condemnation ends when a critic of the Khashoggi murder is filling their car with gas refined from Saudi oil, or America sells advanced weaponry to the Saudis.

IMO golfers should be able to earn where they can, they don't have the security of knowing they will be in the same job for forty odd years. Some only last on the PGA tour for a few years.

It's not as if the LIV tour is memorable in any way. The Saudi money and their golf courses will be gone in 20-30 years, when renewables replace virtually all fossil fuel production in the energy sector.

Dream on.

[Scottie12]

In common with most other 'real' golfers I will never watch a LIV tournament as I just don't see the point. I don't blame them for taking the money but at least be like Richard Bland who admitted he was approaching 50 and was doing this for his family. None of this rubbish about spreading the game. Also, it only benefits 48 players whereas anyone with ability can join the European PGA or US PGA tours. I won't miss most them who are just about over the hill anyway. Garcia has always been a revolting man e.g.spitting in the cup after he missed a putt, damaging the greens during a tournament and many other displays of temper which should have had him banned. Patrick Reed is a proven cheat and has been caught out on TV on at least two occasions. Dustin Johnson is one of the most unlikeable personalities in the game etc etc.  An English pro, Laurie Canter, joined LIV and evidently his position in one of the 'teams' has been displaced by Hendrik Stenson so what will happen to him ? 
Interesting times but the PGA tours will survive and thrive.

[Lacessit]

41 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

Dream on.

I applaud your brevity, can't say the same for cogency.

[CMBob]

1 hour ago, Berkshire said:

Nicklaus was offered Greg Norman's job, to be the face of the LIV tour.  Not to play.

I know he wasn't made an offer to play and didn't say that.  From the news: "LIV Golf officials have said Nicklaus was not offered the same role that Norman now has, but rather an “ambassador’’ type arrangement that he turned down."  

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, Berkshire said:

It'll be hard for Trump to weasel out of this one.  The next LIV tournament is being held at his golf course....which is pretty close to where 9/11 happened.  He's going to be getting some negative press....as if he needed any more.

 

[Dozens of family members and survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will head to former President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club next week to protest the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf event there.]

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/24/trump-9-11-liv-golf-protest-00047655

 

Did LIV sponsor 9-11?

[scubascuba3]

4 hours ago, CMBob said:

It would be refreshing if the LIV guys at least publicly were honest as to why they joined the LIV tour......simply because they got paid a boatload of money to do so (more money that any one of them could possibly make for the rest of their golf lives).  One wonders why the LIV guys aren't simply admitting that.

Then, of course, is the consideration of the source of the money and why the Saudi's would essentially throw away 2-3 billion dollars (real money!) to get it started.  Their offer to Jack Nicklaus ("north of 100 million dollars" according to Nicklaus) is especially puzzling/concerning to me.  Why would they offer that incredible sum to somebody who doesn't even play professional golf anymore?  Simply an attempt to buy prestige? 

Finally, while I admittedly have never been a big fan of Greg Norman, one at least wonders if he jumped into this simply for his claimed "love of the game of golf."  Come on, Greg, how much money are the Saudi's paying you to do this?

 

 

Obviously the main reason is money, do you need things explained to you? you realise golfers on PGA tour and DP world tour are mainly doing it for money?

 

Golfers have been chasing money for a long time incl receiving appearance fees