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If golf fans are upset that the best players in the world won’t be playing in the same tournament as The Players Championship this week, world number one Scottie Scheffler says they should direct their anger at golf’s divisive players. “If the fans are upset, look at the guys who leave,” said Sheffler on Tuesday. “We had a tour, we were all together, but the other people have any more. After all, that’s where the split came from.
“As far as our tour goes, like I said, we’re doing everything we can to create the best possible production for our fans, and that’s really what we’ve accomplished.”
Scheffler will be looking to defend his title at the 50th Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, but former major champions such as reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau will not be taking part in the match at Rivals Golf League LIV. The PGA Tour’s flagship event, known as the “fifth major,” doesn’t boast the same depth as in the past. “If the players want to take the money, that’s their decision,” Scheffler said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell guys not to take hundreds of millions of dollars. If they think it’s better for their lives, then go for it. I’m not going to sit here and force everybody to stay on our track.
“But at the end of the day, this is where I want to be and we’re continuing to grow our operation and I don’t really care what they’re doing. »
Earlier Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in his first press conference since the Tour Championship in Atlanta in August that Tour negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund were “accelerating.” The two parties are discussing a possible $3 billion investment from the sovereign wealth fund, which has been funding LIV Golf for the past three years.
Monahan and partners from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire sports team owners that has already announced it will invest as much as $3 billion into the PGA Tour, met with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in Saudi Arabia in January.
Monahan said the tour realizes that fans are “tired of hearing about conflict, money and who is getting what.”
One of the next steps in a potential deal is Al-Rumayyan meeting with player directors on the PGA Tour policy board, including Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. The players’ directors also serve on the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises, the entity created by the tour and SSG. “I think it’s really important that we’re all rowing in the same direction,” said Patrick Cantlay, one of the players’ directors. “I think it’s really great that we have an opportunity with this PGA Tour Enterprises board to start something new and move in the right direction together.”
At Monahan’s press conference, a reporter asked if he thought he had the board’s full support to move forward with the Saudi Arabia agreement. Monahan acknowledged there had been “a lot of interesting and lively discussions at the board” about his future as commissioner. “That’s a question you have to ask the players,” Monahan said. “I can’t generalise about the players but obviously there’s a responsibility that’s been given to me by both boards and I have the support of the boards and I’m the person who can take me forward. I know this. I believe this wholeheartedly and I am determined to do it.”
World No. 6 Xander Schauffele said he remains skeptical that Monahan is the right man to leave.