The PGA is the Devil Players Have Always Known
When the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour launched in 2021, many were stunned when some of the world’s best players made the switch. I wasn’t; Phil Mickelson — $200 million; Dustin Johnson — $125 million; Brooks Koepka — $100 million; Bryson DeChambeau — $100 million; Cameron Smith $100 million. These numbers were stunning, they were just signing bonuses. But, the players taking the money, was anyone really shocked?
What was stunning was how many of the PGA tour players who didn’t take the money suddenly found new love for the PGA. Perhaps I’m recall challenged, but I don’t remember many professional golfers raining love on the PGA prior to 2021. The PGA is a monopoly run by wealthy, 25-handicap country-club hacks. Most tour players knew this and simply had learned to live with it. None really loved the PGA, just ask Phil Mickelson.
The merger of the PGA, LIV, and the DP World Tour has now created a global monopoly of competitive golf and one that hardly mirrors the gentlemen’s game of Bobby Jones. Let’s call it what it is, the Show-Me-the-Money Tour. I’m personally looking forward to Jared and the Donald kicking off the first annual Khashoggi Invitational, although I’m hoping Khashoggi’s widow turns down her invitation.
So what now, keep replaying the video of PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan winning the hypocrite of year award? I have a better idea. Players, why don’t you start you own tour? If you build it, they just might come.
Most professional sports, mainly team sports, require tremendous investment and resources; about four billion dollars for just one average NFL football team, of which there are 32. How could a player’s organization or union find that kind of investment capital? Granted, team-sports owners do benefit greatly from the billions of free taxpayer dollars spent on building their stadiums, but I digress.
Golf, on the other hand, is not a team sport. You don’t need stadiums, practice facilities, and huge budgets for salaries. With the exception of a few TPC courses, none of the professional tours own the courses they play on and players pay their own expenses. Sure, some have sponsorships, but they don’t get a salary.
So all you need is an organization to manage tournaments and negotiate sponsorship and media deals. Tiger, Phil, you know anything about negotiating sponsorships or media deals? Yeah, probably not (cough… Nike… cough… KPMG).
How much does it really cost to run a professional golf tour? According to Golf Digest, not that much; about $1.5 billion a year. In 2022, the PGA tour paid $685 million to players; transferred $153 million collected from sponsors to players in endorsement money, and spent $716 million to run its operations — $212 million for tournament expenses, $183 million on staff salaries and $132 million for the TPC network.
The fact is Greg Norman had already figured this out a while ago, but he only had (my guess) a hundred million dollars or so to invest, so he decided to bank with a new devil rather than the one he knew. Tiger, on the other hand, could probably come close to banking a new tour himself!
So boys, have some coffee; talk amongst yourselves. I’ll bet if you put your heads together, you could hire a few consultants and come up with a sound business plan. I know more than a few of you know a hedge fund manager or two who might be willing to invest. Hell, I’d bet even Warren Buffett would invest. He knows a good monopoly when he sees one.
But you’re going to have to organize, dare I say unionize (-ish). Would that be so hard? Phil, Rory, could you suck it up, kiss and make up, and take one for the team? It’s either that or keep kissing the asses of murderous dictators and greedy, 25-handicap country-club hacks.
One thing is clear, the PGA tour players now know with certainty what their beloved PGA is; the devil they’ve always known.