TAKEAWAY “I wake up every day assuming someone is trying to take my lunch. That’s the way I operate. That’s the way we operate as a team.” — PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, speaking to the press on March 8, 2022
“Where is golf headed?” That former intellectual musing is now a genuine question, following this year’s debut of LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed, Greg Normanfronted challenge to the PGA TOUR has dominated headlines with Tour player defections, claims of Saudi “sportswashing” and eyebrow-raising quotes from Norman and others. And did we mention the money? To help make sense of it all, to consider new angles and to put some context around the current situation, we spoke with a handful of people who’ve been following LIV closely. The story is evolving by the hour, and who knows where it will be by the time you read this, but we hope that the following points—edited excerpts from conversations at press time—will prove useful in informing your thoughts on the subject, even as we all wonder at the future of the game we love so much.
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Participants: AM: Alex Miceli, journalist, radio/TV personality; founder of Morning Read, SI.com contributor BH: Bob Harig, Sports Illustrated writer; longtime author and journalist; formerly with ESPN CMT: Cho Minn Thant, Chief Executive of the Asian Tour, which has partnered with LIV Golf Investments to create an International Series of 10 events DS: Dave Shedloski, longtime journalist, author and GolfDigest writer XX: A representative from a major agency
(name withheld)
