The Feast and Famine of Jay Monahan pt 2

 Phil has been courted to play in Saudi Arabia in February 2020 and right now, I am going to lean on, if you are here, you like golf and I'm going to tell you something.... The 2020 Saudi International tournament was won by Graeme Mcdowell, among other high finishers were Dustin Johnson, Phil, Thomas Pieters, Abraham Ancer, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Brooks Koepka, and Ian Poulter. Where are all of these guys now!? Playing for Saudi-backed LIV Golf.  Right under Jay Monahan's nose, there was a revolt bubbling up.

As mentioned in Part 1, Phil also was playing in the PGA Tour Champions in 2021, and crushing. He played very well in the events he partook in. Through his experience in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and juxtaposing his success in the Tour Champions, I have to believe that he saw the competition as unfulfilling and the pay probably wasn't enough to even sniff his gambling debts.

Meanwhile, in 2021, Jay Monahan was staving off attempts by groups outside the PGA to alter the competitive golf landscape. As a response to one of those groups, Monahan announced a new measure called the Player Impact Fund. The PIF outlined how 40 million dollars would be divided up to 10 golfers who "moved the needle" and drove the popularity of the sport. With the "most" popular golfer getting 8 million dollars. Even more perplexing this program was not through play, but rather social media. Literally a popularity contest. If you're popular as a golfer, you're probably wealthy because of it, and this just furthered the rich getting richer. 

Why was this announced by Jay Monahan in April 2021? Because there was a new power player looking to lure top talent away from the PGA to play in a league with guaranteed money. LIV Golf? No. Premier Golf League.

Backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Premier Golf League was an operation looking to reshape tournament golf. The PGL made early rumblings about pay offers to players like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, and other huge names in golf. Guaranteed offers were reported to be in the range of 30-50 million dollars... sound familiar? Jay Monahan stated that any player who joins a rival league would be banned from the PGA Tour.

But, Premier Golf League had a competitor of its own. Golf Saudi the arm of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was courted by what was referred to as the "Super Golf League". -Sidebar, these names just seem like a pissing contest. Golf Saudi ultimately chose to back the global narrative that was woven by the "Super Golf League", and this entity launched with the financial support of the Public Investment Fund in October 2021 as LIV Golf Investments. LIV being the Roman numeral 54, as in 54 holes vs the PGA's 72-hole tournaments.

Upon formation, Greg Norman was named CEO. *I am not a journalist and have no connection to professional golf, but we have to wonder what Greg Norman was doing all along. Was he at the 2020 Saudi International tournament? Was he courting players for years?* LIV Golf was off and running in October 2021 and Norman had a desire to restructure the known golfing world.