Tiger Woods passes on reported $200 million to play on Saudi LIV golf tour, others do not pass

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uihawk82

Well-Known Member
That is a huge amount of money but Tiger doesnt need the money. The tour gave him everything, I think he still wants to try to win majors, at least one more major, he wants to win on the PGA tour rather than some diluted tour where the marshalls and rules people walking the course wear some simitar shaped swords in their belts.

Let's see, Garcia, Westwood, Johnson, Kaymer, McDowell, Na, Oosthuizen, Pettit, Grace and Schwartzel, Dustin Johnson and Phil M. have resigned from the PGA tour. Dustin J reportedly got $25 million. Most of those players are from Europe or Africa. Not sure where most of the tournaments are being played but a quick money grab by some. Kevin Na started playing pro golf at 17 years of age or 21 years ago. He has played all over the world but he got really rich on the PGA tour.

Anyway, to me, good for Tiger, and I am not a huge Tiger fan (even though he is alltime the 2nd best golfer of all time).

Rickie Fowler went to the LIV as did Patrick Reed and Bryson Dechambeau. Very good players although Rickie has been faltering some the last few years.

I dont think the PGA Tour will miss them very much as there are some very good young players on tour with a mix of great veterans.

Any of you have thoughts on playing for MBS and the Saudis?
 
Play for the Saudi government? Not at any price.
That said, LIV is going to hurt the PGA Tour big-time, probably sooner than later. I looked at the leader board of this week's PGA tourney, and in the top 10 the only names I instantly recognized were McElroy and Thomas. With the departure of Woods, Mickelson and others from their weekly tourneys the past couple years, even prior to LIV the PGA was going through a major transition, and LIV will make that considerably more difficult. I think within a couple years crowds and sponsors are going to be a challenge for the PGA.
The majors are going to become even BIGGER events because that will be the only time all the top players in the world are in one place at the same time.
The PGA is also looks a little bit like the NCAA: slow to change, which has come back to bite 'em in the butt.
 
The PGA Tour is still very strong and there’s a lot of young talent. The players that left are going for the money and nobody can fault them for that. I won’t watch a bunch of guys who can’t compete with the best players in the world any more than I would watch a Korn Ferry event. The LIV is basically an exhibition. Even if these guys are ever allowed to play in the Opens, they will get heckled and booed for taking the Saudi blood money.
 
Grady said:
Play for the Saudi government? Not at any price.
That said, LIV is going to hurt the PGA Tour big-time, probably sooner than later. I looked at the leader board of this week's PGA tourney, and in the top 10 the only names I instantly recognized were McElroy and Thomas. With the departure of Woods, Mickelson and others from their weekly tourneys the past couple years, even prior to LIV the PGA was going through a major transition, and LIV will make that considerably more difficult. I think within a couple years crowds and sponsors are going to be a challenge for the PGA.
The majors are going to become even BIGGER events because that will be the only time all the top players in the world are in one place at the same time.
The PGA is also looks a little bit like the NCAA: slow to change, which has come back to bite 'em in the butt.
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I get some of your points. The casual golf fan who is a viewer can be a bandwagoner like many were when Tiger was up and coming, established and winning all the time. Those fans went for a winner. From what I understand the LIV Saudi tourney is a set number of players at every event so it is like a barnstorming tour and to me watching the same smaller number of players each week is boring.

I agree playing for the Saudi's sounds pukey and I heard a 9-11 group called those players out for it as doing 'sportswashing' which maybe means money laundering with sports. The group said they sold their souls and are unpatriotic, etc etc. And really Fowler and DJ are not hot right now, and most/many of the players in LIV are non-american so the US fans wont be missing them.

But watching today you have J Rose going 10 under and he was 11 under twice and several other players playing very good to great golf and challenging Rory and Thomas.
 
Hawkboys said:
Competition in any industry is good for it long term.
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Right now, from what I have read and heard, the LIV tour is a set number of players who will play every event. That might change but as they travel around it might look more like a barnstorming string of events with no big events like majors.

The LIV doesnt have a TV or streaming contract.

And one of the main things is will they raise money for charities? The PGA tour and their events raise a ton of charity money and many/most top golfers have their own personal charities to raise money.

I really love golf both playing it for 63 years now and watching top golf but I have no 'want' to watch the LIV. The European tour and the Seniors are on all the time but I hardly watch them.
 
uihawk82 said:
I get some of your points. The casual golf fan who is a viewer can be a bandwagoner like many were when Tiger was up and coming, established and winning all the time. Those fans went for a winner. From what I understand the LIV Saudi tourney is a set number of players at every event so it is like a barnstorming tour and to me watching the same smaller number of players each week is boring.

I agree playing for the Saudi's sounds pukey and I heard a 9-11 group called those players out for it as doing 'sportswashing' which maybe means money laundering with sports. The group said they sold their souls and are unpatriotic, etc etc. And really Fowler and DJ are not hot right now, and most/many of the players in LIV are non-american so the US fans wont be missing them.

But watching today you have J Rose going 10 under and he was 11 under twice and several other players playing very good to great golf and challenging Rory and Thomas.
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It's not money laundering, it is attempting to use sports to rehabilitate an image. The Saudis are in a longstanding war with Yemen, but because they are a US client state, they will never get the Russian treatment when they invade a neighbor.

Of course, half of the shit talked about this tournament is that a bunch of legacy media channels have sunk a bunch of capital to buy the broadcast rights for the PGA and they don't want a competitor that could dilute viewership of PGA events.

I think they'll add a woman to each team, get up to 64 golfers, and probably do really well. You mix a few hot women in and get a few of the top ladies out of Asia to sign up and they'll have global media rights that will crush what the PGA has. You can easily add women to the format because it is team play. The cognitive dissonance when the Saudis have a golf league that manages to pay women magnitudes more than the LPGA is going to be immense.
 
okeefe4prez said:
It's not money laundering, it is attempting to use sports to rehabilitate an image. The Saudis are in a longstanding war with Yemen, but because they are a US client state, they will never get the Russian treatment when they invade a neighbor.

Of course, half of the shit talked about this tournament is that a bunch of legacy media channels have sunk a bunch of capital to buy the broadcast rights for the PGA and they don't want a competitor that could dilute viewership of PGA events.

I think they'll add a woman to each team, get up to 64 golfers, and probably do really well. You mix a few hot women in and get a few of the top ladies out of Asia to sign up and they'll have global media rights that will crush what the PGA has. You can easily add women to the format because it is team play. The cognitive dissonance when the Saudis have a golf league that manages to pay women magnitudes more than the LPGA is going to be immense.
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Yep, I know what sportswashing is but it also seems to be dirty money flowing through a lot of hands. The way the Saudis treat women and kill people willy nilly to keep their power just makes it feel very dirty. Their money and ruthlessness with their people is the only reason they have a "kingdom".
 
Fryowa said:
Lol. Everyone has morals until the money gets flashed.

You would be playing there before the ink was dry if they offered you 8 figures and you know it.
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No man, if people had the choice they would gladly pay an extra $2 for a gallon of gasoline and $400 for plane tickets just to keep the money away from the Saudis.
 
Fryowa said:
Lol. Everyone has morals until the money gets flashed.

You would be playing there before the ink was dry if they offered you 8 figures and you know it.
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Probably most people chase the money, but maybe not everyone. Phil Mickelson, as an aside, lost $40M because of his gambling addiction. He definitely needs the money!
 
racerhawk said:
Probably most people chase the money, but maybe not everyone. Phil Mickelson, as an aside, lost $40M because of his gambling addiction. He definitely needs the money!
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Phil probably made $40 million in endorsements in the year after his recent PGA win. The top golfers make tons in endorsements and commercials.

According to Forbes, Mickelson was 29th on the list of the world's highest-paid athletes during the 2020-2021 season, amassing around $40 million in endorsement deals. Overall in his career, the 45-time PGA Tour champ has taken home about $800 million in endorsements. He's earned less than $100 million in golf purses.Feb 22, 2022
 
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