PGA Tour gamers have been apparently blindsided by the news Tuesday morning that their tour had agreed to merge with rival league LIV Golf and settle for funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
“I love finding out morning news on Twitter,” two-time main champion Collin Morikawa tweeted.
Multiple news retailers reported that PGA Tour gamers weren’t informed forward of time that the news was coming earlier than a press launch was posted on-line and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan appeared collectively on CNBC for an interview.
Monahan was requested throughout that interview what he thought the response can be from PGA Tour gamers.
“Listen, a lot of people have been reading about the tension. And I said previously that we were going down our path and they were going down theirs,” Monahan stated. “And at this time, that rigidity goes away. The litigation is dropped. We’re asserting to the world, that on behalf of this recreation, we’re coming collectively. And it is much less about how individuals reply at this time, and it is all about how individuals reply in 10 years. And once they see the influence we’re having on this recreation collectively, there might be lots of smiles on individuals’s faces, and there might be much more individuals taking part in this recreation all around the world.
“And if you’re a young player that wants to get to the highest level in the game today, you’ll be more inspired than you’ve ever been before.”
PGA Tour fan favourite Joel Dahmen poked enjoyable at LIV’s crew idea, which the excursions introduced can be saved alive in some kind of their new mixed entity.
“I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour!” he tweeted.
Others weren’t shy to specific their anger.
“Love finding out info on twitter. This is amazing. Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer,” Wesley Bryan wrote on Twitter. “I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA TOUR for a very long time.”
LIV Golf gamers weren’t given a sign the merger was coming both, in accordance with the Golf Channel, although they obtained the news otherwise.
“Awesome day today,” Phil Mickelson tweeted with a smiling emoji.
Mickelson was among the many first gamers to make the leap from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, and it was the six-time main champion’s presence that legitimized LIV sufficient for others to observe. Mickelson has not been shy in latest months about lobbing accusations of collusion on the PGA Tour and different golf governing our bodies.
While the likes of Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and others accepted huge assured contracts to defect to LIV, different gamers turned them down to remain loyal to the PGA Tour. Hideki Matsuyama of Japan reportedly turned down $300 million from LIV to stay with the PGA.
The excursions’ announcement stated there might be a path for LIV gamers who need to re-apply for membership to the PGA or DP World Tour. Barstool Golf’s Dan Rapaport reported that gamers who defected to LIV might want to pay a high-quality that “won’t be equal for every player.”
–Field Level Media