Hoylake, England — With The Open’s portfolio more than doubling over the past decade, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers on Wednesday did not rule out taking money from public investment in Saudi Arabia to help fund spiraling costs.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference ahead of the Open Championship this week at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Slippers said R&A was not interested in having a sponsor for the Open but would continue to speak to various potential sponsors.
“We have a number of great partner companies that are helping us make this thing happen,” Slumbers said. “I think the world has changed in the last year. It’s not just golf. You see it in football. You see it in Formula One. You see it in cricket. I’m sure tennis won’t be far behind.”
On June 6, the PGA Tour announced that it was forming an alliance with DP World and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has spent more than $2 billion financing the LIV golf tournament over the past two seasons. At a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, Ron Price, the PGA Tour’s chief operating officer, testified that the Public Investment Fund was prepared to invest more than $1 billion in a new for-profit entity that would be controlled by the PGA Tour.
London’s Telegraph reported on Tuesday that Yasser Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will attend The Open this week as a guest of one of the tournament’s biggest sponsors.
In 2021, the Public Investment Fund bought 80% of Premier League club Newcastle United. Oil and gas company Saudi Aramco is the global sponsor of Formula 1 racing, the LPGA Tour and the Dubai-based International Cricket Council and the Indian Premier League. Last month, ATP Tour boss Andrea Gaudenzi said he had “positive” discussions with PIF officials about a possible investment in men’s tennis.
“The world of sports has changed dramatically in the past 12 months, and it is not feasible for R&A or golf to ignore what is simply societal change on a global basis,” Slippers said. “We’ll look at all the criteria that we’re looking at all the options that we have.”
The Open Championship purse has more than doubled since 2013 when it was $8 million, and Phil Mickelson earned $1.44 million for winning Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland.
This year, R&A will hand out a record-breaking $16.5 million in prize money with the winner taking home $3 million. Last year, Cameron Smith raised $2.5 million for winning the 150m Open Championship at St Andrews in Scotland.
“Significant increases in prize money in the professional men’s game have led to a long-term re-evaluation of professional golf’s business model,” Slumbers said. “As custodians of the game, we must balance the prize fund of The Open with ensuring appropriate investment in grassroots and new golf initiatives, ensuring pathways from elite amateur golf to the professional game and, most importantly, encouraging women and girls to take up golf, both amateur and professional.
“There is no doubt that our ability to achieve this has been affected more by the rapid acceleration in men’s professional prize money than we anticipated or planned.”
Portfolios in the other three major tournaments in men’s golf have also increased this year. The Masters raised his purse to $18 million, the PGA Championship awarded $17.5 million and the US Open awarded $20 million.
“These are the stark choices we face, and I’m sure, like other leading bodies in golf, we must adopt a strategic approach that is financially sustainable in the long term rather than just finding short-term solutions,” Slippers said. “If you want to know what really matters to me and what I think is important to the game, it’s the financial sustainability of professional golf. It’s ensuring that golf thrives in 50 years, but really more importantly, that we preserve and don’t forget the values surrounding our game.”
Sleepers said R&A will invest about $258 million in global golf over a 10-year period.
On Wednesday, R&A announced that it will host its first ever African Amateur Championships at Leonard’s Creek in South Africa on February 21-24. The 72-hole event will feature 72 men from Africa and the winner will receive an exemption from next year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland. R&A will host an invitational event for 20 elite players that same week.
The R&A, Augusta National Golf Club, and the United States Golf Association organize similar events for amateurs in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions.