Explained: How Saudi big money has shaken up golf’s status quo | Explained News,The Indian Express
With hundreds of millions on offer, several top golfers have left the PGA Tour for the Arabian kingdom’s LIV Golf venture
This week, Brookline, Massachusetts is hosting the ‘toughest test in golf’, as the US Open is often described as. But the last few weeks can also be referred to as the ‘toughest test of golf’ as developments on the course and off it threaten to tear the professional game apart.
The US-based PGA Tour has been the toughest, most prestigious and most lucrative golf circuit in the world, with most upcoming players aspiring to it as if it were the Holy Grail. Together with the DP World Tour (formerly called the European Tour), it has dominated the golfing scene for decades.
Now, a Saudi-funded venture with immensely deep pockets has threatened the status quo, tempting the best players in the world with lucrative contracts and guaranteed prize money to play in their LIV Golf events. Some of the top golfers have jumped ship and the PGA Tour has wasted little time in suspending their membership.
But the big names who have opted to switch sides are free to tee up at the US Open and, in all likelihood, next month’s 150th Open Championship on The Old Course at St. Andrews, considered the home of golf.
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