| By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.
For comments: [email protected]
Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as the fallout from wildest week in the sport’s history continues. |
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1. McIlroy: Hard for me not to feel…like a sacrificial lamb
Joel Beall for Golf Digest…“To those who sensed that McIlroy might be feeling betrayed after Tuesday’s stunning announcement between the tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, well, you’re right.”
- “It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens.” McIlroy said Wednesday at the RBC Canadian Open.”
- “McIlroy, who spearheaded a player-led initiative that restructured and saved the PGA Tour, said he was not informed of the tour’s decision until Tuesday morning and that it wasn’t PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan who told him but PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne. When asked if he still had confidence in Monahan, McIlroy took a pause before responding, “I do.”
- “I’ve dealt with Jay a lot closer than a lot of those guys have. From where we were a couple of weeks ago to where we are today, I think the future of the PGA Tour looks brighter as a whole, as an entity,” McIlroy said. “What that looks like for individual players in terms of keeping a tour card and bringing players back into the fold and then that sacrifices other people, that’s where the anger comes from, right. And I understand that.”
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2. McIlroy hopes LIV goes away, offers support for Monahan
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”I still hate LIV,” McIlroy said. “Like, I hate LIV. I hope it goes away, and I would fully expect that it does. I think that’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF — very different from LIV.”
- “McIlroy, one of the PGA Tour’s most outspoken loyalists during its 18-month battle with the LIV Golf tour for the best players in the world, said he still has confidence in PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan but that “it’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens.”
- “Monahan has been criticized for keeping PGA Tour members, including McIlroy, in the dark during negotiations with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing LIV Golf.”
- “I do,” McIlroy said about having confidence in Monahan. “And, look, I’ve dealt with Jay a lot closer than a lot of those guys have. From where we were a couple of weeks ago to where we are today, I think the future of the PGA Tour looks brighter as a whole, as an entity.”
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3. Monahan on “hypocrisy” and lack of transparency
Monahan on his lack of transparency…“There’s no question that yesterday was a setback, and I’ve had setbacks before and in terms of rebuilding the trust it begins with having conversation like I had through the night last night and being here in the morning and talking to players and explaining to them this deal and how this is a great outcome for every PGA Tour member and the game. I don’t expect everybody to understand right off the bat. I think this is going to take some time but when you look out over the horizon I’m entirely confident when I talk to our players that this is where I’m going to take them. That’s essentially where we are right now.
- “The PGA Tour is in a control position. We have a lot of flexibility in our business. We have an opportunity through productive capital to reinvest in our Tour and our membership and reinvest in our game. When anyone looks 3, 5, 10 years down the road, I’m confident that those results will be delivered.”
Monahan on ‘owning his hypocrisy’
- “I understand the criticism I’m receiving around the hypocrisy and me being hypocritical given my commentary and my actions over the last couple of years. As we went forward and reached a compromise, that was one of my great considerations. Any hypocrisy I have to own, nobody else. That’s on me. It shouldn’t be directed at the membership, that’s on me. As we sit here today, I’m confident we did the best thing for the game and the best thing for all of our members.”
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4. More on the player meeting
Via Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“People would be more open to it if it were this conversation two years ago before all the s— started,” said the anonymous player. “The Tour messed up in the beginning and took such a hard stance. … To go back on his words literally a year later after making all these changes. Honestly, the PGA Tour is in a good spot with all the designated events and the changes. But I also think the litigation is the real reason [for the merger]. … I think LIV was going to be perfectly fine dragging out the court case. There’s a lot of stuff.”
- “And even after one of the spiciest player meetings in Tour history, there are still many questions.”
- “Appearing later Tuesday night on a live stream hosted by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, Bryan was asked by French if he felt any better after leaving the meeting.”
- “No,” Bryan answered, with little hesitation, “but there’s nobody in that situation – when you get completely blindsided by someone that’s been saying one thing for the last year and a half and all a sudden the script get 180 degrees flipped, there’s nobody that’s going to stand up in 45 minutes, or however long he spoke for, and is going to change anybody’s opinion on the matter.”
- “Wagner felt that Monahan “kept his calm and his cool,” with the commissioner even admitting at one point that he had not been transparent in this instance.”
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5. No suspended players at Ryder Cup?
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”In a memo to players Wednesday, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley reiterated that the joint commitment between his circuit, the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund doesn’t change the short-term prospects of the LIV players who resigned their European tour membership last month.”
- “Nine players resigned their membership May 3 because of sanctions they faced after an arbitration panel sided with the European tour: Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Richard Bland, Martin Kaymer, Dean Burmester and Paul Casey. Pelley said in the letter that any fines and suspensions imposed remain in effect.”
- “….Pelley used the same verbiage – “difficult and highly unlikely” – to describe the likelihood that any of those players could be reinstated and join the European Ryder Cup team later this year.”
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6. Loyalists will be rewarded
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”Jay Monahan promised Wednesday that the superstars who rejected offers from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to remain loyal to the Tour will be compensated in some fashion.”
- “He just doesn’t yet know how.”
- “Their loyalty will be rewarded,” Monahan said Wednesday in an interview on “Golf Today”.
- “I’m going to spend every single waking hour as we move forward here, we finalize this agreement and we move into the future, that the players that have created the PGA Tour, have created this pro-competitive, legacy-driven juggernaut, that have articulated and supported the direction that we’re going on – ultimately, the decision we made, I believe, is going to make it better for all of our players, and loyalty, ultimately, as a leader, always needs to be rewarded.
- “How that manifests itself is something I’m going to spend a lot of time working on. And I think when we’re having this conversation down the road, that’s something I look forward to being more specific about.”
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7. Norman: LIV will continue
ESPN’s Bob Harig…”Norman, who was not mentioned in any of the news releases associated with the agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund that was announced Tuesday, told more than 100 people on a 30-minute call that LIV will see no operational changes and that work is already being done on a 2025 schedule.”
- “The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue-chip companies, TV networks,” Norman said according to a person on the call who wished not to be identified.”
- “LIV is and will continue to be a standalone enterprise. Our business model will not change. We changed history and we’re not going anywhere.”
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8. Shackelford’s conclusion
Literally and figuratively the final paragraphs of his Quad column…”The major championship organizations also must feel more secure knowing they draw larger audiences and have history as an eternal draw for players and fans. They’ll still face pressures due to the PGA Tour mismanaging the threat at every turn and showing a willingness to sell out. But unlike Monahan’s Tour taking their eye off the ball so regularly, the USGA, R&A, Augusta National and PGA of America have certainly not morphed into marketing machines oblivious to their missions.”
- “For some time it’s been pretty clear that the “player run” Tour cannot be trusted to do what’s best for anything but 200 golfers and 200 Vice Presidents. Partners like the LPGA Tour and networks have taken a back seat to self interests at every turn. Tuesday’s monumental and gross news only reaffirms how the new pro golf entity should not be entrusted with decisions of substance that might influence a sport played by 70 million people worldwide.”
- “Because a glorious and thriving game that has been played for centuries will carry on tomorrow even if His Excellency grows bored and shuts it all down. And for those saddened by the PGA Tour acquiescing, just think of the coming comedy. Giant egos will be squashed, grave dancers who rejoiced Tuesday will get egg on their face, raging hypocrites will be exposed, and unexpected bright spots will help us appreciate the good people unfairly caught up in this mess.”
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