R&A Boss Open to Using Saudi Arabian Money to Fund Rapidly Increasing Purses
HOYLAKE, England — With concerns about the significant increases in purses that have "resulted in the long-term reassessment of the business model for professional golf," R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said Wednesday that he would not rule out sponsorship opportunities that might come from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
In a wide-ranging media session in which Slumbers announced a new amateur event to be played in South Africa next year and his vision for growing the game through initiatives funded by the R&A, the head of golf's organizing body outside of the United States said all things need to be considered as it relates to revenue streams.
"If I'm very open, we are and do and continue to talk to various potential sponsors," Slumbers said at Royal Liverpool in advance of the British Open that begins on Thursday. "We have a number of large corporate partners that help us make this thing happen. I think the world has changed in the last year. It's not just golf. You're seeing it in football. You're seeing it in F1. You're seeing it in cricket. I'm sure tennis won't be that far behind.
"The world of sport has changed dramatically in the last 12 months, and it is not feasible for the R&A or golf to just ignore what is a societal change on a global basis. We will be considering within all the parameters that we look at all the options that we have."
Slumbers was referencing the PIF’s involvement in sports around the world and the disruption that LIV Golf—which is funded by the PIF—has caused in the last year.
In his opening remarks, Slumbers lauded the "framework agreement" that was announced on June 6 between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF.
"To be clear, we're not party to the agreement, and while we absolutely welcome an end to the disruption in the men's professional game, there is a lot still to be understood," he said. "We will await the outcome with interest. Until then, we intend to focus on what we can control, which is staging our championship successfully, governing with the best interests of the game at heart, and doing all we can to get more people playing golf."
To that end, the Open will have a record $16.5 million purse, with $3 million going to the winner. Slumbers said those figures are in response to the growing purses in the game—LIV Golf offers a $20 million individual purse at all of its events and the PGA Tour will have a series of designated events in 2024 with at least 11 tournaments offering $20 million in prize money.
The problem, Slumbers said, is those are growing faster than expected.
"When I look at the R&A's responsibility, we have a huge responsibility to the game around the world to grow it, to govern it, and to ensure it's thriving, and our one asset which is profitable is this week, and the proceeds of this championship have always gone to be reinvested entirely into the game," he said, adding: “We had expected prize money to rise over a five-year period, and it's probably risen three years earlier than we expected it to, so there is a significant change.
"I think you're seeing the change in the entire business model of men's professional golf, it being able to be worked, and that's a significant challenge for us when you take into account our desire to keep growing the game and investing all the proceeds we make into the game."
Slumbers said he has not discussed this issue with the other heads of the major championships. The Masters paid $18 million this year, with the PGA Championship going to $17.5 million and the U.S. Open going to $20 million.
Although Slumbers noted that the "framework agreement" is not his fight, he was asked about pathways to the Open for LIV Golf, given there are so many avenues to the championship. Slumbers said the spots were increased from 12 to 19 at final local qualifying and that the Hong Kong Open, which was available to LIV Golf players, gave four spots.
Asked specifically about giving LIV Golf an exemption category for season-long play, Slumbers said: "I think that's one of the options that we have. It's not the option that is top of my list at the moment, but it would be one of the options that is available."
Then, without prompting, Slumbers added: "I welcomed the announcement on June 6th. I still welcome it.
"I think where we were last year in this room (at St. Andrews for the Open) was extremely tense, and it's disappointing that for our game, the first championship to get to 150th, two-thirds of this meeting were focused on the topic which had nothing to do with the 150th.
"The disruption being caused by the game is not good for the sport. It's tearing the sport apart. And as importantly, I care about what the perception of this game is around the world. I don't want it to be perceived as a game that isn't available to everyone, that isn't available to boys, girls, men, and women.
"This constant discussion about money, which I referred to again last year, was in my opinion damaging the perception of our sport worldwide in the eyes of a number of young people who are saying, why do I want to join that, in the eyes of a number of politicians who help us put on these fantastic championships.
"We need to move beyond that, and that's why we welcomed the announcement. But as I said, it's not my deal. I'm not a party. I'm not at the table, but I am very pleased that they are sitting there and figuring it out because long-term that's good for the sport which we all want to either work in or enjoy."
On the subject of the Official World Golf Ranking, which has come under scrutiny with changes made to the system a year ago as well as LIV Golf’s application for accreditation, Slumbers—who is a member of the OWGR board as the leader of one of the four majors—said the LIV bid is still being discussed.
"We are and have been considering an application for LIV events to be included and have been in active dialogue with them," he said. “What we're trying to work through is rankings, is trying to rank eligible tours. I think a lot of people get confused that rankings is trying to rank individual players. It's eligible tours that are comparable, and then we rank the players within that.
"It is a complex problem, and it may be that the world has to change. But at the moment, that's still under work in progress and being reviewed."