the environment untenable for events played outside the United States, weakening historic tournaments in Europe and the national opens of South Africa and Australia. Was that part of ‘growing the game’ too? This provided the opportunity for the LIV to emerge to readdress that balance, backed by Saudi Arabia’s seemingly limitless Public Investment Fund and the indulgence of its golf fanatic governor Yasir AlRumayyan. What the suits at the PGA Tour never considered was that one day another organization would have the means to buy the weak loyalty of its top players. Breaking Jon Rahm’s professed “fealty” to the established circuit was more household names. Chris Stroud, who earned over $13m in his career, recently declared, “The tour has never tried to give back to the players and that the leadership didn’t care about those ranked outside the top 30.” Everyone (even the LIV defectors) are entitled t o seek a better deal for themselves, but where is the perspective to any of this? Mr. Stroud could walk into any golf club and signing the guestbook would be the only autograph he would be asked for. But PGA Tour players do have legitimate reasons to question what is going on since the Framework Agreement was expensive than others, but the outcome was exactly the same. Where it leaves us now is a curious, absurd position where the product that is men’s professional golf has been diluted and weakened beyond recognition, but the players themselves have never been more rewarded financially. The PGA Tour has thrown money at the FedEx Cup and its Signature Events to the extent that it’s now begging tournament sponsors for more support, while its ‘Player Impact Program’ this year handed a bonus of $100 million divided between 20 players just for sticking around. Modern tour golf is a recipe for entitlement and not just for the Michigan Golf Journal
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