The war of words between the PGA Tour and Greg Norman, the chief executive of the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League, ratcheted up a notch yesterday after Norman published an open letter taking PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to task over his plan to ban players from the PGA Tour if they signed up to the proposed new league.
In the letter, Norman took specific issue with Monahan’s insistence that players will be banned from competing on the PGA Tour if they sign a deal with the Saudis. Norman has now claimed the PGA Tour is “threatening” its members.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson are among those who have pledged allegiance to the PGA despite Norman’s advances. Phil Mickelson, one of the early supporters of the SGL, has taken a temporary leave of absence from tournament golf after he admitted that he used the Saudi Super Golf League to earn leverage with the PGA Tour – a plan which spectacularly back-fired, with the 51-year-old being roundly criticised by his fellow players.
At a meeting of PGA Tour players in Florida on Tuesday, Monahan reasserted that golfers cannot combine the SGL with the PGA Tour.
In the correspondence aimed directly at Monahan, Norman stated: “Surely you jest. And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath. As has been widely reported, you have threatened the players on the PGA Tour, all of whom are independent contractors, with lifetime bans if they decide to play golf in a league sponsored by anyone other than the Tour.
“For decades, I have fought for the rights of players to enjoy a career in which they are rewarded fully and properly for their efforts. They are one-in-a-million athletes. Yet for decades, the Tour has put its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it. The Tour is the players’ tour not your administration’s Tour.
Norman added: “When you try to bluff and intimidate players by bullying and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you likely are in violation of the law. Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf. Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like. What is wrong with allowing players to make their own decisions about where to play and how often to play? What is so wrong with player choice? Why do you feel so threatened that you would resort to such a desperate, unwise, and unenforceable threat?”
Previously, Monahan told players that action would be taken against anyone trying to cause commercial or reputational harm to the PGA Tour. Norman, in turn, emphasised the value of competition. “Commissioner – this is just the beginning,” said his letter in closing. “It certainly is not the end.”