Dustin Johnson, who in February pledged his loyalty to the U.S.-based PGA Tour, would be the top-ranked golfer within the inaugural occasion of a Saudi-backed rival tour subsequent week on the Centurion Golf Membership outdoors London. Phil Mickelson, who just lately expressed some measure of assist for the choice circuit, was not amongst these listed within the area for the event.
On Wednesday, Royal Financial institution of Canada determined to finish its sponsorship contracts with Johnson and Graeme McDowell, first reported by Sportico. The financial institution can be the lead sponsor of a longtime PGA Tour event — Johnson gained it in 2018 — that will probably be contested in Toronto on the identical weekend as the primary LIV Golf event.
Johnson, 37 and ranked thirteenth on the earth, was one in all 42 gamers listed within the area for the primary occasion of the LIV Golf Invitational Sequence, whose main shareholder is the Public Funding Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The upstart league provides no-cut tournaments with $25 million in complete prize cash at every, and ensures prime gamers tens of millions in look charges no matter their efficiency.
The Telegraph in London reported on Wednesday that Johnson was paid about $125 million to play within the LIV Golf collection.
Mickelson’s absence is a light shock, although there have been nonetheless six spots obtainable on Tuesday, so he may change his thoughts. Johnson’s inclusion is a breach within the broad solidarity expressed by the PGA Tour’s elite males’s golfers during the last six months.
Different gamers within the area had been anticipated, with many — like Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Ian Poulter and McDowell — older than 40. General, whereas there are 16 gamers in subsequent week’s LIV Golf area ranked within the prime 100, solely two — Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen — are ranked within the prime 30.
The PGA Tour and the established European golf tour have denied releases for member golfers to play in LIV Golf, which is led by the retired main champion Greg Norman. PGA Tour officers have stated that these taking part in in any of the breakaway circuit’s tournaments would danger punishment, which may embrace suspensions or a lack of tour membership.
Requested for a response following the choices of a number of tour gamers to play in subsequent week’s LIV Golf occasion, the PGA Tour on Wednesday reiterated its former stance on the matter.
“As communicated to our total membership on Could 10,” the tour stated in an announcement. “PGA Tour members haven’t been approved to take part within the Saudi Golf League’s London occasion, beneath PGA Tour event rules. members who violate the event rules are topic to disciplinary motion.”
The following step within the conflict could also be in courtroom. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has insisted that the tour’s legal professionals imagine any self-discipline handed to golfers who play for the rival tour will stand up to authorized scrutiny.
Johnson, a two-time main winner who has gathered greater than $74 million in profession earnings from the PGA Tour, said in February that he was “totally dedicated to the PGA Tour.” It was a sentiment echoed by each participant within the prime 10, and every of the main golfers in a youthful cohort that has dominated the PGA Tour within the final two seasons.
Rory McIlroy, the four-time main champion, known as the brand new rival league “useless within the water.”
Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, issued an announcement on Tuesday night time: “Dustin has been considering this chance off-and-on for the previous couple of years. Finally, he determined it was in his and his household’s greatest curiosity to pursue it. Dustin has by no means had any subject with the PGA Tour and is grateful for all it has given him, however ultimately felt this was too compelling to cross up.”
“Free company has lastly come to golf,” Norman stated in an announcement. “This is a chance to start out a motion that may change the course of historical past by bringing new and open competitors to the game all of us love. The need proven by the gamers to take part in LIV Golf demonstrates their emphatic perception in our mannequin and confidence in what we’re constructing for the longer term.”
The LIV Golf collection consists of eight occasions from June to October, together with one in Thailand and 5 in the US. In late July, the host web site would be the Trump Nationwide Golf Membership in Bedminster, N.J.
Saudi Arabia’s position within the new tour has already induced controversy. Mickelson set off a hailstorm of criticism in February after he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had a “horrible file on human rights” — together with the homicide of a Washington Publish journalist — however stated he seen the brand new tour as a “once-in-a-lifetime alternative” to use stress on the PGA Tour to extend participant revenues. Mickelson later stated his remarks had been “reckless.”
