That effort grew to become extra public over the weekend, when LIV Golf Investments CEO Greg Norman made an look on Fox News through which he identified that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan sits on the OWGR’s eight-member governing board. Monahan has indefinitely suspended PGA Tour players who signed with LIV Golf, and final week he vehemently defended that call, stating on CBS that such players wouldn’t be allowed to “free-ride” off the cachet of his group.
“It’ll be interesting to see if Jay Monahan recuses himself from that vote because of what he said on television with [CBS’s] Jim Nantz the other day,” Norman mentioned Saturday on Fox News. “So it’s very interesting and it’s sad to be putting that additional exerting pressure on it, because our tour is a good tour. It’s supported, it’s got an incredible field.
“OWGR points should be granted, and if we get the OWGR points, then everything else takes care of itself.”
It’s a vital matter for the upstart, Saudi-funded enterprise as a result of the world rankings are a significant factor in figuring out eligibility for the 4 majors. Without OWGR accreditation, players who deal with the eight LIV events over different circuits will slip within the rankings, which may diminish the lure of the collection’s large purses and signing bonuses.
“We’re actually applying for OWGR points right now,” mentioned Norman, who added that it was a “very compelling” utility. “We’ve worked very, very closely with the technical committee, understanding all the components of what you need to apply for it.”
While the star energy assembled by LIV Golf, together with Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, undoubtedly has the eye of OWGR officers, different hurdles stay. LIV’s deliberately unorthodox strategy contains 54-hole tournaments contested by simply 48 players, with no cuts. Those modifications to customary skilled golf codecs may make it troublesome for the OWGR board to decide how a lot weight to give LIV events.
The largest situation for LIV Golf, although, could possibly be the OWGR’s decision-makers, all of whom are deeply linked to the present construction of top-level golf and a few of whom have expressed discomfort with the Saudi-backed enterprise. In addition to Monahan, others on the governing board embrace USGA CEO Mike Whan, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, International Federation of PGA Tours official Keith Waters and DP World Tour (previously generally known as the PGA European Tour) chief government Keith Pelley.
The USGA allowed LIV Golf players who have been suspended by the PGA Tour however had already certified for the U.S. Open to compete in it. But Whan not too long ago mentioned it was a fluid state of affairs and he may “foresee a day” when players banned by the PGA Tour may need a more durable time making main fields.
“What we’re talking about [LIV Golf] was different two years ago, and it was different two months ago than it is today,” the USGA CEO told reporters throughout a pretournament media session. “We’ve been doing this for 127 years, so I think [the USGA] needs to take a long-term view of this and see where these things go.”
“I’m saddened by what’s happening in the professional game,” Whan added. “Mostly as a fan, because I like watching the best players in the world come together and play, and this is going to fracture that. I’ve heard that this is good for the game. At least from my outside view right now, it looks like it’s good for a few folks playing the game, but I’m struggling with how this is good for the game.”
Waugh echoed these remarks final month when he mentioned his group was “a fan of the current ecosystem and world golf ranking system and everything else that goes into creating the best field in golf.” Asked if LIV golfers have been probably to be included within the 2023 PGA Championship area, he replied, “I don’t know what it’ll look like next year. We don’t think this is good for the game.”
In his feedback on Fox News, Norman mentioned his conviction that “golf is a force for good” made him snug partnering with the Saudi regime, which has been criticized for human rights violations and was implicated within the 2018 assassination of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“To me, if golf is good for the world, golf is good for Saudi [Arabia],” he mentioned, “and you’re seeing that growth internally there. It’s extremely impressive.”
The two-time British Open winner and former world No. 1 was proven a clip of Turner Sports’s Bob Costas declaring not too long ago on CNN that LIV Golf players have been taking “Saudi blood money.”
“Look, I’m disappointed people go down that path, quite honestly,” Norman said on Fox News. “If they want to look at it in that prism, then why does the PGA Tour have 23 sponsors doing 40-plus billion dollars’ worth of business with Saudi Arabia? Why is it okay for the sponsors?”
“Will Jay Monahan go to each and every one of those CEOs of the 23 companies that are investing into Saudi Arabia,” Norman continued, “and suspend them and ban them?
“The hypocrisy in all this, it’s so loud, it’s deafening.”
