PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — If golf fans are upset that the world's best players aren't playing in the same events like this week's Players Championship, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said they should direct their ire toward the side that caused the fracture of the sport.
“If the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “We had a tour, we were all together and the people who left are no longer here. At the end of the day, that's where the fragmentation comes from.
“As far as our tour goes, like I said, we're doing our best to create the best product for the fans, and that's where we're really at.”
While Scheffler will attempt to defend his title at the 50th Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, current Masters champion Jon Rahm and other former major champions Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau are not in the field because they are playing . in the rival LIV Golf League.
The PGA Tour's flagship event, known as the “fifth major,” does not feature the same deep field as in the past.
“If the guys want to take the money and leave, then 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 that's what you think is best for your life, then do it. I'm not going to sit here and force guys to stay.” “. on our journey.
“But at the end of the day, this is where I want to be, and we continue to grow what we're doing, and what they're doing is not really a concern for me.”
Earlier on Tuesday, during his first news conference since the Tour Championship in Atlanta in August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said the tour's negotiations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had “accelerated.” The parties are discussing a possible $3 billion investment from the sovereign wealth fund, which has financed LIV Golf for the past three years.
Monahan and his partners at Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire sports team owners that has already announced it will invest up to $3 billion in 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 gets what.”
One of the next steps in a potential deal is for Al-Rumayyan to meet with player directors on the PGA Tour's policy board, including Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. Player managers also sit on the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity created by the tour and SSG.
“I think it's very important that we all pull in the same direction,” said Patrick Cantlay, one of the player managers. “I think with this PGA Tour Enterprises board of directors, I think it's really exciting that we have the opportunity to start something new and move all together in the right direction.”
During Monahan's news conference, a reporter asked him if he believed he had the full support of the junta as he worked to advance the deal with the Saudis. Monahan acknowledged that there have been “many good and lively discussions among our board” about his future as commissioner.
“You know, that's a question you're going to have to ask the players,” Monahan said. “I can't generalize when it comes to the players, but clearly given the responsibility that both boards of directors have given me, I have the support of our board of directors and I am the right person to lead us forward. I know that. I believe that in me heart and I am determined to do exactly that.
Xander Schauffele, the sixth-ranked golfer in the world, said he remains skeptical that Monahan is the right man to lead the tour. Schauffele had called for Monahan's resignation in the past.
“Trust is a pretty tender thing, so words are words, and I would say in my book that it has a long way to go,” Schauffele said. “I am sure that he has the support of the [player] together, since they were with him making some of those decisions, but for me, personally, he has a long way to go.
