Everyone has a sticker on their car. The price tag for the biggest names in their sport is something LIV Golf is trying to figure out. According to Greg Norman, the CEO of the new government-funded Saudi tour, LIV offered Tiger Woods a number in the "high nine figures" to come play for them, despite his health issues and advanced age. What is Tiger's name? How much is a billion? Did you mean close to it?
If Tiger got four times that, he would be upset. Two hundred million dollars to tell the world that getting even with the PGA Tour was worth it to work with people who have a horrible record on human rights and gays.
One can assume that Kevin Na's number is somewhere in the 7-digit range, as he doesn't have the same name recognition or major wins as Johnson, but he does have the same number. The two golfers announced today that they are quitting the PGA Tour and giving up their tournament rights in order to get away from the commissioner of the tour.
Taylor Gooch told the press that he didn't think that LIV Golf was a sportswashing effort after getting paid whatever number. I play a sport called golf. I don't think I'm smart. I attempt to hit a golf ball. It's enough to play golf.
Gooch spoke at a press conference that was filled with reports. An AP reporter was escorted out after trying to ask a question, and a Daily Mail reporter asked a question about how players reconciled Saudi Arabia's human rights record with their decision to join the league.
The problem is that none of the talk about growing the game or starting with a shotgun is important for the PGA. The war is still being lost. They are not funded by blood money at this time. In sports, there are only two things to think about, and that's the money and the optics. They don't have the cash. The problem is that the powers that be were not all that likable to start with.
The Saudis have the same amount of money as they desire. The player impact program looks like lunch money. When he said, "I don't want to play golf the rest of my life, which I felt like I was probably going to have to do," he was exaggerating.
The resignation of Johnson gave the PGA more time to decide how they want to deal with future defectors, which is a good thing, but it also hurts the reputation of the PGA. They don't have the power to control their athletes. The ship-jumpers didn't wait for the punishment or sanction to be handed down, they got ahead of it, which makes them seem powerless and undesirable. If athletes are willing to give up their rights to play with the Tour, they are no longer the end-all-be-all in the sport.
The PGA is going to have to evolve and likely loosen up a bit on that automatic LIV ban that they threatened, as well as look for ways to get their golfers better financial opportunities or more global reach for sponsors. They are standing on a shaky moral ground already, and despite the absolute hot mess that the LIV press conference was, shaking their heads in disappointment isn't going to stop golfers from taking tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to play elsewhere
When it isn't like that, you can't rest on the "well, we do it because that's how it's always been" excuse. The more people join, the more normalized it becomes, and that cycle will continue until the PGA folds or becomes a sort of amateurized version of LIV. The no-namers will choose LIV if they can play in the majors.
The PGA have something to say about it. There will be more tournaments during the season for a number of reasons. With no LIV broadcast partners yet announced and no idea of how popular their events will be, the PGA offers a good, solid schedule and a low-risk future in the sport. Despite lucrative offers, a lot of the big names have stood by the PGA. They have time to build up their foundation.
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