Getty Images
Two weeks ago, the PGA Tour made the devastating revelation that it intended to set up a new business entity with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Almost everyone was shocked by the news, and in the days since, players and media alike have been scrambling for details. Those who remained loyal to the PGA Tour and turned down offers from rival, Saudi-backed league LIV Golf were particularly shocked. Many of them took to social media to express their discontent.
And now, you can count Tom Watson among them.
In an open letter to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour Policy Council and PGA Tour players, Watson outlined a number of questions he feels were not answered by Monahan about the proposed merger, and accused the commissioner of suddenly blatant hypocrisy. around the face.
The eight-time main winner’s message clocked in at over 1,000 words. You can read it all above, but here are five key topics:
The players were supposed to have input into the merger
“In my opinion, the connection was mishandled and the process by which the round agreed to a proposed partnership with the PIF was carried out without due process,” Watson wrote.
What are the benefits of consolidation for tour members?
“The Commissioner and the PGA Tour Board, on which five Tour players sit, will have to do a lot of straightforward explaining to comfortably convince our membership of this partnership with PIF,” Watson wrote. Tour stakeholders: the players themselves, the broad reach of the global media, as well as tournament sponsors and independent tour partners, need to explain the benefits of forming such a partnership.
Watson’s questions are all our questions
“What does it mean to accept this partnership for the tour? What do we get? What do we give up? Why was this deal made with such secrecy and why was not even one of the players who sit on the tour policy board included?” Watson asked. “This profound issue deserves thorough examination by a representative group of stakeholders that includes those who ultimately, define the public image and emotional attachment to the PGA Tour.”
“What, if any, are the plans to bring back tour players who defected and now want to return to the PGA Tour?”
“Has the funds been depleted to the point where the round needs an unprecedented capital injection to remain solvent now or in the future?”
Watson is not a fan of the bureaucracy of the Tour
These questions are compounded by the hypocrisy of ignoring the moral issue. A situation that the tour leadership has long publicly highlighted,” Watson wrote. “While it is accepted that players at all levels would appreciate the opportunity to make more money, it has also been made clear that not all of our players are looking for money at any cost. Those who have remained loyal to the tour for any personal reason or stance of moral conscience are more than a few outliers.”
Watson stands with the victims of 9/11 – and denounces Saudi Arabia’s human rights record
He wrote, “I am still waiting for Saudi Arabia to admit their role in the September 11 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of three thousand innocent fellow Americans.” “I support 9/11 Families United and their efforts to release US government documents supporting the innocence (see 9/11FamiliesUnited.org/KeyDocuments). That day, forever among the darkest days in our nation’s history, sadly not alone among the human rights violations we saw Hired by Saudi Arabia. I ask the round, how is it a non-negotiable point for us one day negotiating the next day?”
Watson ended his letter with a call for answers to his questions.
He wrote, “Please educate me and others in a way that allows for loyalty to both and in a way that makes it easy to look the 9/11 families in the eye and ourselves in the mirror.”
More Coverage of Integration on the PGA Tour: Player Reaction | 21 pressing questions and answers | Brandl Chambly Sounds | Rory, tiger left in the dark | PGA Tour-LIV golf schedule | Could this happen? Legal expert weighs in | Jay Monahan defends the decision