Martin Dempster: PGA Tour/LIV merger has moral issues and golf may still be big loser

I’ve thought about it privately over the past year but never shared it publicly. Until now. Golf’s civil war over the last 12 months has left me feeling happy that I’m closer to the end of my career covering the game than the start and, being brutally honest, the events of Tuesday did absolutely nothing to change that.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has come under fire from some of his members following the announcement of a merger with LIV Golf. Picture: Michael Reaves/Getty Images.

A shock merger of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was hailed as a “momentous day” by the three parties and was quickly given a thumbs up by The R&A.

“We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come,” said CEO Martin Slumbers. “This agreement represents a huge step toward achieving that goal for golf and we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally.”

That may well prove to be the case at some point in the future, but you just needed to look at social media in the first few hours following the announcement to see the dreadful mess that has been created in the game and, sorry, but there’s zero chance of that being fixed in a few months, far less overnight.

Sadly, things had become personal between lots of people on the opposing divides and, while that is no longer technically an issue, the gloating and goading from LIV Golf lovers was a taste of what’s to come over the next few days, weeks and months.

What is sticking in my throat about this unexpected twist in the tale is that, like Rory McIlroy in particular, but others, too, I had been constant in expressing a view that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour took the right action when Greg Norman’s breakaway circuit was launched by strongly opposing it.

I didn’t need to be convinced about that by either Jay Monahan or Keith Pelley in a number of press briefings, in which neither the PGA Tour commissioner or the DP World Tour CEO held back when hitting out at the rival tour, because it was simply wrong for players to be receiving silly money to be sitting at one table but still thinking it was okay to try and take from another table.

It has still to be determined how many tables players will be afforded the chance to sit at going forward because the nuts and bolts of a new entity involving the three parties have still to be put in place, but, boy, has Monahan, more so than Pelley, made himself unpopular by saying one thing for so long and then, by his own admission, showing himself to be a “hypocrite”.

He’s let down McIlroy more than anyone but also Tiger Woods. Collin Morikawa, too, after he spoke so passionately about how most top players were interested in “memories rather than money” as he outlined why a switch to LIV Golf wasn’t for him as the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed all grabbed the Saudi cash and were instantly banned from the PGA Tour.

Apparently, a PGA Tour players’ meeting on Tuesday night was a heated affair due to some of those in attendance being left “grumpy” by the announcement earlier in the day and Monahan might soon be fighting to hang on to his job over this one because a huge call was made without some key figures being aware of what had been going on behind the scenes for as long as seven weeks.

He’s jumped into bed with PIF, including the DP World Tour in the arrangement through its Strategic Alliance with the PGA Tour, for money and lots of it, with a reported $1 billion set to be pumped into the collaboration by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF chief and chairman of the new commercial entity.

Norman, apparently, had been kept in the dark about what was about to unfold and his time as LIV Golf’s figurehead could soon be up, even though the former world No 1 and man with a long-standing chip on his shoulder hailed the news as a “great day in global golf for players and fans alike” as “the journey continues”.

Lots of questions need to be answered over the coming months. For instance, will LIV Golf still exist in its current guise because, unless I’ve got this one badly wrong and I am confident that’s not the case, very few people around the globe give two hoots about its team format and it would be an insult to expect the likes of McIlroy, Morikawa and Justin Thomas to be part of that going forward. ‘You can stick that one where the sun doesn’t shine Jay’ would be my view on it being floated.

What exactly will the benefit be for the DP World Tour and Challenge Tour is another question that will need to be answered as meat is added to the bare bones of what is being widely hailed as one of the most exciting developments in the history of the Royal & Ancient game.

However, it would be remiss not to mention the moral issue here due to Saudi Arabia’s shocking human rights record and it’s difficult not to come to the assumption that the sport at the top level in the men’s game is now under Saudi ownership and it probably won’t be too long before it’s a similar set up in the women’s game as it seems inevitable that current backing for the LET spreads to the LPGA.

June 6 2023 will go down as one of the most memorable days in golf and could see some Ryder Cup careers reignited, though almost certainly not in Rome in September, but it could take years to repair all the damage from the past 12 months and, unfortunately, some relationships are beyond repair.

Golf has been the loser recently and, despite lots of apparent excitement, still will be in the eyes of many.