Golf: "You can't compete with a foreign monarchy" (Jay Monahan, PGA Tour)

"If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can't compete with a foreign monarchy (Saudi Arabia) that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf. We welcome good, healthy competition. The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that. It's an irrational threat, one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game," said Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, on 22/06/2022.

The commissioner, who announced a revised calendar for the PGA Tour, which will be back to a calendar year from 2024, and eight tournaments with greatly increased prize money from 2023, was referring to the new golf circuit launched on 01/02/2022 by LIV Golf Investments, a new golf company in which the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia is the majority shareholder.

This new tour, which started with a leg in London (ENG) from 09 to 11/06/2022, relies on "an increase in the lucrative and unprecedented investment into the Asian Tour from $200m to $300m (€266m)." LIV Golf Investments originally announced the creation of the…