Golf: Former major champion Tom Watson questions LIV-PGA merger in a letter to Jay Monahan
The drama around LIV-PGA merger doesn’t seem to be ending. The focus from the shocking deal had shifted for a while during the US Open though. Eight-time major winner Tom Watson, however, has brought the deal back into the limelight with a scathing letter to PGA commissioner Jay Monahan.
In the letter, which was accessed by news agency The Associated Press, Watson asked many questions regarding the deal. The letter was sent to PGA Tour and fellow players too, apart from Monahan.
“Is the PIF the only viable rescue from the Tour’s financial problems? Was/is there a plan B? And again, what exactly is the exchange?” read one of the questions.
The former golfer also mentioned the criticism of the deal by the families of the 9/11 victims.
“My loyalty to golf and this country live in the same place and have held equal and significant weight with me over my lifetime,” Watson wrote in the letter. “Please educate me and others in a way that allows loyalty to both, and in a way that makes it easy to look 9/11 families in the eye and ourselves in the mirror.”
On June 6, PGA, in shocking news, announced a merger with rival LIV Tour. The move came 12 months after constantly making it clear that PGA doesn’t recognize the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.
The United States’ Department of Justice (DoJ), meanwhile, has initiated an inquiry into the merger. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on CBS’ Face of Nation has said that the hearings could be held within weeks.
“There are very, very few details,” Blumenthal said. “But remember, what we have here is essentially a repressive, autocratic foreign government taking control over an iconic, cherished American institution for the clear purpose of cleansing its public image,” he said.
Monahan, meanwhile, has taken a step back from the day-to-day operations at the PGA Tour due to undisclosed health issues after calls for resignation post-LIV-PGA merger.
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