by A senior official has blamed Patrick Cantlay for Jon Rahm’s £450 million defect that put the PGA Tour on the back foot in Saudi merger negotiations.
Rahm shocked the golf world when he announced his move to LIV Golf on Thursday night despite denying he would play for the often Saudi-funded league. The loss of the world No 3 and current Masters champion has sparked the blame game among those left at the PGA Tour, with allegations of a player power coup led by American Ryder Cup star Cantlay behind the Spaniards change sudden heart.
“If Cantlay hadn’t tried to take over the [PGA Tour] policy board, then Jay [Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner] he would have made an agreement with the Saudis and the Public Investment Fund [PIF] You wouldn’t feel the need to reopen that limitless wallet to sign Rahm,” the industry chief told Telegraph Sport.
“But the Saudis believed they were in danger of being cut out by all the US investors, who suddenly appeared and [had] encouraged by some of the other players on the policy table, so PIF acted.”
This comes with a report in Sports Illustrated – the feted US magazine – which claimed that early in the early stages of negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF, the Saudis “offered a $1 billion compensation package to the PGA Tour players who rejected LIV’s offers.” before the framework agreement [in June]”.
However, when Cantlay led a revolt of the pros, which ultimately resulted in the six players on the policy table getting the final say on any deal agreed with PIF or any other investors, the Saudis that they could be lowered.
With Monahan due to meet Yasir Al-Rumayyan – governor of the $700 billion PIF and chairman of both LIV and Newcastle United – Rahm was being courted as a marketing ploy ahead of fresh negotiations.
“The Saudis probably didn’t think things were going their way to get a deal,” said Paul McGinley, a former Ryder Cup captain and former DP World Tour board member. “So they brought the checkbook back out to put things in their favor.”
McGinley expressed his hope that an agreement can still be reached with PIF and he is supported in this desire by the countryman Rory McIlroy. Before resigning from his own position on the policy board last month, McIlroy indicated that he wanted PIF to be involved. On Thursday, he reiterated his concern about keeping them on the outside.
“My fear is that we continue on this path where we have competitive tours that it divides the eyes on the game,” he said. “Most people like the PGA Tour, but if LIV took a few players every year it’s going to be really divided – and that’s not good for anyone.
“Golf would be cannibalizing itself as a sport. The best way to progress is to have the best golfers under one umbrella. We need to bring everyone back together and try to forget what happened in the past. Good luck and let’s all move forward together.”
McIlroy is well aware, however, that this situation is at risk due to the current dynamics on the policy table. In August, Monahan tried to calm players’ unease about blindsides and, as Rahm called it, “betrayal” of the framework agreement, by giving voting control to the pros, by replacing Randall Stephenson with a deal – former CEO of AT&T – who was retired – with Tiger. Forests. Now, with a six-five player split on executives it is the golfers who ultimately have the final say.
Sports Illustrated claims Cantlay, Woods and Jordan Spieth – McIlroy’s replacement on the board – have formed an alliance that is courting US investors, including Fenway Sports and Todd Boehly, owners of Premier League clubs Liverpool and Chelsea. instead.
But the publication cited Cantlay as the individual who has “taken control” and is “arguably the most powerful person on the PGA Tour, including the commissioner”.
The focus will therefore be on the world No. 5. Cantlay is no stranger to controversy. At the Ryder Cup in Rome in September he was accused of splitting the US team room by refusing to wear an official hat as a form of protest allegedly against unpaid players.
Telegraph Sport was told that week that a TV interviewer asked Cantlay why he was without his ability and he quoted a PGA of America official and said something like ‘because he’s being paid to be here and I’m not ‘. .
Rome fans booed Cantlay, before his US teammates rallied around him, waving their hats in the air in support. This led to infamous, and already infamous, scenes on the 18th green between McIlroy and Cantlay’s caddy, Joe LaCava, and then later in the parking lot.
As a result of that dispute, McIlroy said: “My relationship with Cantlay is average at best. We don’t have a ton in common and we see the world differently.”
McIlroy cited time issues and the need to focus on his game as reasons for quitting the policy board but his disagreements over the direction of travel of negotiations with Cantlay are central to a complicated story.
Next week, Monahan will try to assure Al-Rumayyan that Sawgrass HQ still wants a deal, but as Sports Illustrated put it, “the Tour is in a worse negotiating position than it was this summer.”
Woods, Spieth and McIlroy did not respond to requests for comment, and Cantlay’s agent declined to respond when asked about the allegations by Sports Illustrated.
LIV are rumored to be talking to other big names, with US Ryder Cup player Tony Finau repeatedly mentioned as a potential member of Rahm’s team. The supposed peace never looked like that.
