News broke on Saturday, ending a stunning week in the golf world. The LIV Golf-PGA Tour partnership stunned everyone when it was announced earlier this week. Several days later, the underlying reason for the partnership has arrived to the surface. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was said to have privately told Tour employees that they could not compete in legal battles against the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Tour.
The Wall Street Journal reported the stunning details.
In private remarks to PGA Tour employees, commissioner Jay Monahan indicated why it stunningly reversed its position and struck a deal with its Saudi-backed rivals: the fight would run the Tour dry financially. https://t.co/5LM3DzmVi9
— WSJ Sports (@WSJSports) June 10, 2023
Monahan believed the PGA Tour simply could not compete with the amount of money that the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour had as far as legal battles went. The details from the report indicated that the PGA Tour used $50 million in court already, and it also suggested that “tens of millions of dollars” went to hiring lawyers for the legal battles. So, suffice it to say, they were being run dry in court and facing significant issues.
That has likely not dismissed or even slightly snuffed out the depth of criticisms the PGA Tour has felt as a result. 9/11 families and other prominent voices have made their displeasure felt this week.
Based on the reactions to the news, it doesn’t sound like that criticism is going away anytime soon. Plenty had things to say about the details revealed on Saturday morning.
Lol Aye this Monahan fella is hilarious https://t.co/NB8SMFJbbd
— Mr. Wilson (@OhMrWilson314) June 10, 2023
No surprise. Jay didn't have a choice. He saw the end coming apparently. #PGA https://t.co/JCf4Gf54aQ
— Steve Fifer (@SparkyRadio) June 10, 2023
This was quite literally my initial reaction to the news. No one can afford to go up against the Saudi’s in court. https://t.co/uAhOek1Lo1
— Matthew Lownes (@LownesMatthew) June 10, 2023
And he folded https://t.co/I9rzbcOP5N
— Strawberry Moon (@thedebster24) June 10, 2023
Then maybe he shoulda been a bit more open to increasing purses and listened to changes Phil wanted made before LIV ever came to be. I don’t think he took the LIV threat as a real one until they started taking players, then they got put in a bad spot against a much richer foe https://t.co/EDLNw0JYgy
— Tobi Altizer (@Tobi_Altizer) June 10, 2023
Just shut up.
This has been my Ted Talk. https://t.co/rb3Pql3B8U
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) June 10, 2023
[WSJ]
