Million event: Kaymer justifies the start of the controversial Saudi tour

Status: 09:53 a.m | Reading time: 3 minutes

Golf pro Martin Kaymer will compete in the opening tournament of the controversial new Tour LIV Golf Invitational Series from June 9th to 11th in London. “Yes, I signed up to get a picture of this tournament with my own eyes,” said the 37-year-old from Düsseldorf to the “FAZ”.

The new series, which is also to be played in several of former US President Donald Trump’s seats, has been criticized for its financing from Saudi Arabia. The background is that the country, which has been criticized for human rights violations, is trying to improve its image with lucrative sporting events.

“I’m not a politician, I’m a professional golfer,” said Kaymer, who is still playing in the German tournament on the European tour this week. The Porsche European Open starts on Thursday in Winsen. Afterwards it goes to London. Kaymer simply sees the new series as an opportunity to make golf more interesting with shorter tournaments, especially for young people. The invitational tournaments of the competition series for the North American PGA Tour and the European DP World Tour are played over three days instead of four.

$20 million in first tournament prize money

In addition, the events come with extremely high prize money. The tournament in London alone is endowed with 20 million US dollars – the winner gets four million dollars. For comparison: The PGA tournament in Toronto, which is taking place at the same time, pays out 8.7 million dollars, less than half.

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There are also reports and rumors about enormous signing bonuses for the Saudis. Despite these incentives, a number of top players had publicly spoken out against a start. “Money is a motivator for everyone. There’s no denying that finances also play a role at LIV Golf,” says Kaymer: “I think there’s a misunderstanding in the media that taking part in this tournament is against the PGA Tour or the DP World tour directs. It’s just another option to play professional golf.” The PGA had already threatened to ban participants in the inaugural tournament from their tournaments. How the DP World Tour will react is still open. In contrast to the PGA, however, the importance and influence are significantly lower anyway.

Kaymer’s best placing: 48th

Kaymer doesn’t have much to lose in the USA. The young father has moved the center of his life to America. After a few years, however, he no longer has a regular tour card for the PGA Tour. His current form isn’t the best either. After the birth of his son in January, he took his break and has only played four tournaments this year. He missed the cut three times, and his best finish was a 48th place finish at the Valspar Championship in Florida in March.

A former world No. 1, Kaymer is nonetheless seen as a driving force at the Saudi event, organized by longtime star and two-time Major winner Greg Norman.