War in world golf between the American circuit and the Saudi Super League | Sports

The war has begun. It is real. There are no blank bullets. American golf circuit against Saudi Super League. Here and now. The second big game of the season, the PGA Championship, begins this Thursday (from 3:30 pm at Movistar Golf) at the Southern Hills course in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the midst of an earthquake. who has caused the birth of a Saudi golf circuit, LIV Golf, which competes with the American, the great elite that today brings together the best players in the world. This time there is no threat but the creature has opened its eyes and is about to start walking.

This Super League fueled by the millions of Saudi capital will consist of eight tournaments that will be played between June and October in London, Portland, Bedminster, Boston, Chicago, Bangkok, Jeddah and Miami. The first date, from June 9 to 11 at London’s Centurión Golf, will bring together 48 players with 25 million dollars in prizes, double what each of the greats distributes. And there is the big difference and the key to this whole war: money. The tournament that delivers the most tickets on the American circuit is The Players, with 3.6 million for the winner. This inaugural Saudi league championship will award $4 million to the winner, and from there on a descending scale to $120,000 for the last qualifier. The list of participants has not been confirmed, but there are some big names on the table. Phil Mickelson has given up playing the PGA Championship that he won last year (at 50, the oldest major winner) and remains out of the loop for his controversial support of Saudi business. Sergio García broke out a few days ago after an argument with the referees: “I can’t wait to leave this circuit!”. Ian Poulter, Kevin Na, Ricky Fowler… LIV Golf’s tentacles are elongated. As the visible head of the project, Greg Norman, the White Shark, 67, a star in the eighties and nineties, after Jack Nicklaus, the winner of 18 grand, renounced, “verbally and in writing”, a check of 100 million for being the ambassador of the Super League.

The PGA Tour has reacted furiously. In a letter to his players, he prohibits them from participating in the new circuit, thus denying one of the three exemptions that a golfer can request to play a tournament outside the marriage. “They will not stop us. We are going to continue organizing the best tournaments with the best players”, Norman responded, and claims to have 2,000 million dollars in financing to raise the number of tournaments on the circuit to 10 in 2023 (from then to 14 the following year). With a peculiar formula: they are 54-hole championships, three days instead of four, with no court and with a variant of team discipline that will lead to a millionaire eighth tournament. Two of the venues, Bedminster and Miami, are courses owned by Donald Trump. Precisely in the first one, this PGA that now begins was going to be disputed, but the PGA of America and the Royal and Ancient, the two organizations that govern world golf, they kicked him. The Scottish course of Turnberry is also banned for the same reason to host the British Open.

The big stars have lined up for now on the side of the American circuit. “I don’t play for the money, which is the only reason to go there, but for the legacy and to become a champion. They throw numbers at you and they think they impress you”, settled Jon Rahm, today number two in the world, winner of more than 30 million dollars in prizes on the circuit, and alongside him stood Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau… “I think in history, in the big tournaments, in what Jack did [Nicklaus] y Arnold [Palmer], creating our circuit. There’s a legacy in that,” Tiger Woods said Tuesday.

Woods is still a gold mine at 46 years old. El Tigre steals the spotlight with the start of a new big one after his experiment in Augusta. Beyond his worst finish ever at a Masters, 47th, the champion of 15 majors he ended up lame after his first tournament in over a year. The following Monday was spent encased in ice recovering from the pain in his broken leg. Now, he says, it comes back “stronger”. “It was as if the first mountain he climbed was Everest, the most difficult. At the Masters I said to myself: ‘I’ve won before with a broken leg.’ So I was motivated to keep pushing. It will still hurt and walking is a challenge, but I have gotten stronger. The problem is walking, and it will be like that in the future”, Woods, four-time PGA champion (1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007), resigns himself. The organization has reserved a stellar match for him, along with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, just as Jon Rahm will have to dance alongside Scottie Scheffler (four wins in his last eight contested dates) and Collin Morikawa, the top three world.

Rahm is in new shoes. Literally. A renewed shoe, with a 1.5 cm rise on the right to compensate for the different length of one leg, makes him feel more comfortable. Y since he was the first Spaniard to win the US Open, why not be the first to add the PGA. “It is a field that suits my game well, especially from the tee”, smiles Rahm -Sergio García, who equals Olazabal with 93 majors as the Spaniard with the most Grand Slam appearances, Adri Arnaus and Pablo Larrazábal complete the national representation-. After break free with his triumph at the Mexico Open and go to the formula one GP in Miami, Rahm goes with a clean mind to a great in the middle of a war.

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