It appears the PGA Tour players who refused the money to join the rival LIV Golf circuit will be rewarded for their loyalty.
The Saudi investors behind the country’s Public Investment Fund, which announced a foundation-shaking merger with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour last week, are preparing a compensation package for the players who stayed with the PGA instead of taking multi-million dollar payments to defect to LIV, according to a report in the Times of London.
This would likely include top players such as Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, who were fervent defenders of the Tour after LIV started poaching some of the top golfers in the world, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson.
According to the report, this would allow the players who did jump ship to keep the millions in cash they were given for doing so.
The report also suggested that LIV Golf, which was founded two years ago and funded by the PIF, will likely get phased out by the end of the year – despite their public stance that they will not go away.
Many of the PGA Tour’s top players have expressed frustration with commissioner Jay Monahan and the tour’s decision to merge with the PIF, considering Monahan was extremely vocal in his criticism of LIV – and where they were getting their money from – throughout its two-year existence.
Players reportedly turned down guaranteed payments in the eight-and-nine figure range to join LIV, only for the PGA to turn around and accept that same money.
Payouts to the PGA loyalists could be seen as a way of making them whole.
A source told the Times that a payment plan had not yet been finalized.
“It is a plan that is not in final form or has final agreement,” the source said. “There are some people talking about this but it is not agreed yet or is it a fait accompli.”
The idea had been kicked around since the merger, with McIlroy even broaching the subject while at the RBC Canadian Open last week.
“The simple answer is yes [players should be made whole financially],” McIlroy said. “The complex answer is, how does that happen? That’s all a grey area and up in the air at the minute. It’s hard for me to not … feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb.”
The final plans for the new golf entity – in which Monahan is expected to act as CEO, if the players will let him – have not yet been revealed.
