Feb 17, 2022
Super Golf League appears closer to reality
With each passing week, rumours continue to circulate of players who have signed on to the new circuit, Bob Weeks writes.
By Bob Weeks
While there are still a lot of missing pieces, it appears the puzzle that is Super Golf League is getting closer to completion.
With each passing week, rumours continue to circulate of players who have signed on to the new circuit, of a format and schedule, and of potential tournament sites.
LIV Golf Investments, the company headed by Greg Norman to oversee the creation of the Super Golf League, has been filling its offices with executives experienced in operating such an enterprise, both on the ground and through the media.
One thing is certain: lots and lots of money is being spent. The new tour is backed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It has been active in backing other sports, including sponsorship of motor sports and tennis events, as well as purchasing a majority stake in Newcastle United Football Club of the Premier League.
The country is reportedly trying to rebrand its image of a place rife with human rights violations, including the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, by investing in such enterprises in a practice that has been referred to as “sportwashing.”
While no PGA Tour player has publicly admitted to signing on with the new league, rumours on social media suggest anywhere from 17 to 20 have agreed to move.
It’s easy to read between the lines to determine who is not going to sign on and who is, at the very least, contemplating the move.
Among those on the nay side are Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and Mackenzie Hughes. At this week’s PGA Tour stop in Los Angeles, all these players and more expressed support for their current home.
“The PGA Tour is, and will always be, the best tour in the world,” Hughes wrote in a tweet.
McIlroy, who has been one of the loudest in his denunciation of the Super Golf League, said on Wednesday that he doesn’t see the value in jumping to the new venture, especially for a player in their prime.
“Certainly, for the younger guys, it just seems a massive risk,” he stated. “I can maybe make sense of it for the guys that are getting to the latter stages of their career, for sure. I don't think that's what a rival golf league is really. That's not what they're going to want, is it? They don't want some sort of league that's like a pre-Champions Tour.”
Identifying the golfers thought to have some level of support of the new tour can be done by their utterance of three letters: NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Those in this group include Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Dustin Johnson.
Adam Scott this week said the limited schedule being proposed was appealing and affirmed that he had spoken to SGL representatives but couldn’t expand on that.
“Yes, yeah, but like everyone else, we're sworn to secrecy,” he said.
This doesn’t mean Scott will switch allegiances. It is believed nearly every golfer on the first page of the Official World Golf Ranking has been approached about moving. Every one of them will need to make a decision based not only on monetary rewards but also moral grounds, as some have clearly done already.
Of the rumoured signings, only Bryson DeChambeau would be considered in the prime of his career. He has not necessarily denied moving to the SGL, but he has shot down several stories that said he was getting $130 million to move and that he has played his last PGA Tour event for 2022.
Then there is Phil Mickelson, who has not so much supported the new tour as bashed his existing one, calling out the PGA Tour for not properly sharing the wealth with the players. His biggest beef is in the tour’s exclusivity of media rights.
"It's not public knowledge, all that goes on,” said Mickelson in an interview with Golf Digest. "But the players don't have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel.”
The PGA Tour has been beefing up payouts, in what is believed to be a defensive move against the deep pockets of the SGL. Last season, it added the Player Impact Program, which paid $40 million to golfers who were best at boosting fan engagement through social media and other avenues. This year, $50 million is up for grabs.
This week, at a player meeting, it reportedly revealed plans for a three-event fall series for the top 50 golfers on the FedEx Cup rankings, with healthy payouts.
Not all the moves have been financial. Some have been more threatening in nature. Commissioner Jay Monahan is said to have told the players that jumping to the SGL would mean banishment from the PGA Tour. It’s not certain whether this would pass a legal test, but it left little doubt as to where the tour stands.
What’s unknown is whether SGL players would still be allowed to compete in the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship. None of those organizations has made a definitive statement.
The PGA of America, which runs the PGA Championship and partners with the DP World Tour in operating the Ryder Cup, has said its events will be off limits to those who move to the SGL.
There are plenty of other questions yet to be answered, such as: Will world ranking points be awarded? Where will the broadcast be seen?
It would seem the SGL will have to pull the covers off its project in the very near future if it is to operate this year, as has been speculated. When that happens, professional golf will likely change in a dramatic manner.