17 golfers competing in the inaugural Saudi-backed Breakaway League (LIV) tournament in London, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, are banned from PGA Tour events, US Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced Thursday.
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In a note to all golfers registered with the PGA Tour, he notes that “these golfers have made a decision based on financial considerations.” “But, he adds, you can’t claim the same benefits, consideration, opportunities and platform from the PGA Tour at the same time as you do. This expectation is disrespectful to you, your fans and our partners.”
From St. Albans near London, where the first tournament of this dissident super league began on Thursday, the organizers of the LIV Golf Circuit denounced a “vindictive” decision.
“Today’s announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and widens the rift between the Tour and its members,” it said in a statement.
“It’s troubling that the (PGA) Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers, is also the organization stopping golfers from playing,” they add, promising the case won’t stay . “It’s certainly not the last word on this matter.”
For months, the tide has been burning in the golfing world about the emergence of this super league. Powered by Saudi Arabia and former champion Greg Norman, the LIV Golf directs new fixtures onto the greens on an exceptional budget.
The three-day opening tournament in St. Albans is thus endowed with 25 million dollars in prizes.
Its participants had asked the US PGA Tour for permission to participate, but their application was denied, in particular on the grounds that the first LIV tournament coincided with the holding of the Canadian Open.
The case could now go to court if one of the 17 golfers named in Commissioner Monahan’s memo, nine of whom have already renounced their PGA Tour membership, decide to file a complaint.
Especially since Monahan warned that any golfer playing in another LIV tournament in the future would suffer the same fate. After London, seven more LIV-stamped tournaments are planned this year, including five on American courses.
Financed by the Saudi investment fund, the dissident super league offers a series of eight tournaments around the world with a new format in three days with no cut.
The first, to be held at the Centurion Club in St Albans, north London, will have €23m in prizes, like the other stages, more than double that of any of the four majors. No event on the American circuit offers so much money.