Skilled Gold Affiliation Commissioner Jay Monahan has admitted that Saudi money made the feud with the insurgent LIV competitors unwinnable.
The the Wall Avenue Journal stories the admission got here whereas Monahan was addressing PGA Tour staff in Ponte Vedra Seaside, Florida, in regards to the shock resolution to merge with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf League.
Monahan stated the PGA was pouring tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} into its authorized battle with Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund whereas additionally rising its personal purses to assist cease different gamers from defecting to the rival circuit.
He stated the battle was not sustainable in opposition to a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that reportedly has greater than $600 billion ($A890 billion) in belongings.
The assembly got here two days after the PGA Tour’s surprising announcement that it had fashioned an alliance with the DP World Tour and the Public Funding Fund.
‘We can’t compete’
“We can’t compete with a international authorities with limitless cash,” Monahan informed staff, based on the Wall Avenue Journal. “This was the time. … We waited to be within the strongest potential place to get this deal in place.”
Monahan informed them the tour had spent $US50 million in authorized charges and brought $US100 million from its reserve funds to assist pay out bigger purses and different bonuses to high gamers.
In a press release to ESPN on Saturday, a PGA Tour spokesperson characterised the Wall Avenue Journal report as an “oversimplification.”
“To characterise that this settlement was made resulting from litigation prices and different use of reserves is an oversimplification,” learn the assertion.
“With the top of the fractured panorama on this planet of males’s skilled golf, the PGA Tour has by no means been a extra invaluable property.
“The Public Funding Fund (PIF) has recognised that worth and the chance for (return on funding) with their funding within the tour. Moreover, this transaction will make skilled golf extra aggressive with different skilled sports activities and sports activities leagues.”
The merger settlement introduced on Tuesday ends all authorized disputes between the PGA Tour and the PIF. A supply informed ESPN that the PGA Tour’s insurance coverage will cowl a few of its authorized charges.
-AAP