As we watch the professional golf world toss and turn we see disturbing developments driven by fear and greed. The Saudi (LIV) golf tour has siphoned a number of “pros” by offering big bucks, fewer tournaments, guaranteed “no-cut” prize purses, team events and probably big “appearance” bonuses. The potential loss of ad dollars has caused the US tour, American TV networks and advertisers to panic. As of today, the US Department of Justice has been asked to investigate the contractual relationship between players and the US tour. We think this seemingly pre-emptive move comes from the Saudi tour (Greg Norman) who fears that the US tour may try to bar American players from the Major Golf Tournaments (The Masters, The US Open, PGA, and possibly the (British) Open being played this week). The bait is that ALL pro golfers want badly to win a “Major” so the threat to bar them from Majors could stifle the defection to the Saudi tour. The second development this week is the threat of the Saudi tour to establish a Saudi Ladies tour. This tour would undoubtedly include many of the same benefits as afforded the new Saudi Men’s tour. Since most of the highest ranked women golfers are NOT Americans it could virtually destroy the American LPGA tour if the foreign-born players opted to play Saudi golf. This “movement” is still in the early discussion stages. It will be interesting to see how the women would dress during the tournaments since religion determines the dress code in Arabic countries. And, of course, these women players usually wear short skirts and shorts during tournaments now. Stay tuned. Money will decide the final score as it always does. But the road to this finish line will be bumpy.
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