Do you hear that noise? It’s another prospector hauling his pan to the Saudi money mountain. But this one feels different and more meaningful given the growing likelihood that Henrik Stenson will soon complete his move to Greg Norman’s Breakaway series.
Unless DP World Tour boss Keith Pelley pulls off the biggest comeback seen in golf since Sunday, senior figures at the game are convinced Stenson is on the verge of dropping out and losing the European in the process Ryder Cup Captain.
Pelley is speaking to Stenson this week but the chances of the Swede honoring a deal to monitor the 2023 game with the USA are seen as dreadfully slim when faced with a £30m+ stimulus.
Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson is likely to join the LIV series in the coming days
Greg Norman (R) recently managed to lure some big names away from the PGA Tour
Six-time Major winner Phil Mickelson (L) has signed on for the Saudi-backed LIV series
Here we ask why. Not related to Stenson, because we know the answer – same goes for him as well as any other seal that appears flapping their fins and wedges for LIV. But what about them? What’s in it for the Saudis? What fits your plan in a 46-year-old? He was certainly an ex-Open champion and one hell of a player, but in recent seasons at the majors he’s cut corners enough to make a bonesaw proud.
So he’s not there to push Dustin Johnson. He’s not there to fight and win and to celebrate the free movement of independent contractors in Norman’s vision. no Targeting Stenson is strategic, an act of vengeful disruption and destruction; naked aggression in an already hostile takeover of a sport.
It was fully interpreted privately by the DP World Tour. LIV was never here to complement and compete and blend into the sides to be a tour of many – they don’t invest $2 billion as a buy-in for sports tables. For that money you want the table, the chairs and probably the rug too.
To the European stooges who have signed on – Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer, Ryder Cup stars for one man – how does this potential development fit their oft-repeated mantra, “the game.” to let it grow”. of the Gulf”? Grow by undermining your best competition? Boost it by firing a torpedo at the event that really raised them?
British duo Lee Westwood (L) and Ian Poulter (R) have already joined the LIV series
We’ve seen some hilarious contortions from this gang of squirmers lately – Westwood blaming the media for a fire players started last week was particularly brazen – but certainly, if only privately, they have some regrets feel that their new pals are taking it that far. Maybe they won’t because they have to “do what’s best” for their families, but this courtship of Stenson is a serious escalation.
The disruption of plans surrounding the Ryder Cup will not serve as victory for LIV, but that feels less like their goal at this stage of the coup. So far it’s been about the losses they can inflict on the PGA and DP Tours – buy a Bryson DeChambeau here, a Brooks Koepka there, a Phil Mickelson, a Johnson and a Patrick Reed.
Soon that could include Cameron Smith, winner of the Open, and Hideki Matsuyama, last year’s Masters champion. Bit by bit they tried to weaken the competition and now they’ve widened the gap between golf’s two major tournaments and aimed a kick straight at their shared crown jewel.
An interesting point in all of this is whether the latest scenario will change public opinion towards the players who took the Saudi money. There has been a scene on and off on this subject in St Andrews over the past few days, with Poulter coming into the media tent after each lap and getting upset at the hints of his reception.
Golf’s recent Major winner Cameron Smith could also join the LIV series in the near future
The point he made wasn’t a bad one – the boo he sent on the first tee of his opening loop came from the tiniest minority. It wasn’t a broad protest, no matter how much he deserved it, nor was it the rumble of old Tom Morris rolling in his grave, as one journalist claimed.
In fact, if there was anything telling, it was the fact that even at the Home of Golf for the 150th Open, and for all the criticism on these and other sites, the players didn’t seem to care that much about where the golfers got their money earned.
But will they now? If there’s one thing for certain in golf, it’s that people love the Ryder Cup. That it became part of the seizure of power should show how ugly this saga really is.
