The rewards are staggering. Nearly $300 million will be offered in prize money across eight tournaments. Not to mention the exorbitant sums that will be given to star players like Dustin Johnson or Phil Mickelson simply for participating in competitions. Either way, they’ll get $150 million to $200 million just for showing up.

Money is the main driver of this new league which, for the moment, has not yet proven itself.

It’s not the fact that the series competes at the PGA that’s most disturbing. It is rather that players, already immensely rich, ignore the tradition and the institution that the PGA Tour represents to go and evolve on a circuit that bases its credibility on dirty money.

Indeed, the LIV Golf series is funded and supported by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which is effectively the financial arm of the Saudi government. The government flouts human rights day after day, according to various international organizations. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, and migrants’ rights. Freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of peaceful assembly. The right to health, the right to privacy, and the right to defend oneself in court. It is this money that will be put in the pockets of the 48 golfers on the circuit.

From a government that has made corruption a habit and that feeds on a non-renewable energy industry to fill its coffers beyond being able to close them because they are overflowing. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, the Saudi Fund has the equivalent of $620 billion in assets.

Free electrons

Since the PGA is an association and not a league, players are members, not employees. So they are free to do whatever they want.

“Afterwards, it is the social conscience to know where this money comes from. They just have to be comfortable lying on their pillow at night with the fact of not knowing where their money is coming from, ”explains Yohann Benson, professional at the Le Mirage club and analyst at RDS.

He recalls that political shenanigans have never prevented the world’s biggest sporting events from landing in controversial countries. The Olympics have taken place in China and Russia, the next soccer World Cup will take place in Qatar and there is the Formula 1 Grands Prix in Saudi Arabia.

“Since it’s an eight-tournament event, it’s supported and it competes with the PGA Tour, suddenly the money seems dirtier. However, there is nothing new and athletes have been going to Saudi Arabia for a long time, even if human rights are not respected, ”says Jean-Sébastien Légaré, an analyst at RDS and 91.9 Sports.

The awareness of the PGA

If so many players are turning to the LIV Golf series for money, it’s probably because they are dissatisfied with the current offer on the PGA Tour.

However, golfers are not to be pitied. The vast majority earn a very good living and most are multi-millionaires. However, what irritates golfers is that their image is used for marketing purposes by the PGA. Their faces are on tickets, posters, and cereal boxes without them being able to benefit from them. The arrival of a new circuit, therefore, forces the circuit to adjust.

The PGA Tour is going to have to look in the mirror and improve some things that players have long complained about, like media representation and branding. It’s not normal that they can use their image as they want without paying them.

Yohann Benson, professional at the Le Mirage club and analyst at RDS

To keep players happy, the PGA has created the Players Impact Program, which provides a bonus to players who positively influence the sport and industry of golf. This program was born in 2021, around the same time as the beginnings of the LIV Golf series.

The FedEx Cup purse has also been enhanced. The winner of the season will receive a sum of 18 million dollars, an increase of 3 million compared to the reward of Patrick Cantlay last year. The total purse will increase from $60 million to $75 million.

The LIV Golf series has not yet crowned its first winner, but it has already had its share of implications and ramifications. It is still too early to predict whether it represents a real threat, but according to Jean-Sébastien Légaré, the PGA Tour will remain the benchmark: “The historical roots of golf are very strong and extremely deep. The PGA is attached to major events and I think it will eventually win. This is where it happens, this is where we find the best players and the biggest events.”