Phil Mickelson Shows How Harmony in Golf Won't Be Easy: 'What a Colossal Waste of Time'
More Weekly Read: A Strange Time to Take a Stand | LIV Golf Pushes Forward | Fore! Things
The "Player Benefit Program" that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan noted in his memo to players last week is viewed as one way to try and appease players who feel burned by the Tour’s talking points of the past year—only to see Monahan and two policy board members strike a secret deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Monahan suggested in the aftermath of the deal that those players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour and turned down LIV Golf riches should be compensated in some way. Figuring that out is a monumental process.
So, too, is coming up with a system that would see LIV players coming back to the PGA Tour. For there to be peace, for a system of collaboration to work, there needs to be a way back. And both sides would seemingly need to be on board with some system of cooperation, especially if LIV Golf continues.
To that end, Monahan announced in his memo a section about player discipline.
"A task force is evaluating developing potential pathways back to the PGA Tour for LIV players who wish to reapply in the future,” the memo read, adding that the Player Benefit Program and player discipline were two key components in coming to a definitive agreement with the PIF. It did not say if players would face penalties, either via suspension or fines, but the task force is being headed by PGA Tour executive Andy Pazder.
This clearly is going to be one of the most interesting aspects to the deal. And it’s already gotten some high-profile feedback, including from Phil Mickelson on Twitter.
“What a colossal waste of time," he wrote Saturday night. “Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour. It would require a public apology and restitution for LIV players for paying millions to Clout media to disparage all of us. A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV."
Clout Public Affairs is a public relations firm that worked as an advocacy group for 9/11 victims to push back against LIV Golf and its Saudi Arabian backers, the Public Investment Fund. Clout was hired by the PGA Tour and worked with the 9/11 group—but Clout dropped the Tour as a client in the aftermath of the "framework agreement" announcement.
LIV, in court filings as part of its lawsuit with the Tour prior to the agreement, had accused the Tour of using Clout to stir anti-Saudi sentiment while hiding or-under playing the Tour’s own involvement. The litigation has been dropped as part of the framework agreement.