Tom Watson sends damning open letter to PGA Tour over PIF merger

Tom Watson has expressed deep concerns over the PGA Tour’s pending merger with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The eight-time major champion penned an impassioned open letter to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and his board on Monday demanding answers over the shock deal that has rocked golf.

Watson has questioned whether the top-secret deal between the sports warring factions was the last resort for the PGA Tour to escape financial peril.

The 73-year-old also referred to the “hypocrisy” the American circuit showed in making a U-turn and agreeing a truce with Saudi’s LIV Golf-backers amid huge backlash from groups such as 9/11 Families United.

The fallout from the PGA Tour’s deal with PIF is suddenly back in sharp focus as the dust settles on Wyndham Clark’s victory at the US Open in Los Angeles.

A framework deal announced on June 6 will see the two established tours and PIF soon join together as one new for-profit commercial entity.

There will be a majority of PGA Tour members on the board and Monahan has insisted the circuit will maintain voting rights, but Saudi Arabia will bankroll the new union and effectively take control of the sport at the highest level.

The under-fire Monahan recently stepped down from his duties as he recovers from a “medical situation”, so is expected to miss a Players Advisory Council meeting scheduled at the Travelers Championship on Tuesday.

Watson started his detailed letter by wishing Monahan well.

“First, I wish Jay Monahan a complete and speedy recovery,” he wrote. “I respect the leadership he has shown in the past for our Tour. It can’t be an easy job. With the recent high hurdles in dealing with LIV poaching Tour players and the legal battles presented as a result, I have a sense of the complexity of the issues which he presently faces as a leader.

“Unfortunately, in the wake of recent news, I also understand the cries of hypocrisy. Because he is a smart man, I know Jay does too. In my opinion, the communication has been mishandled and the process by which the Tour agreed on a proposed partnership with PIF was executed without due process. As a group of players and stakeholders who represent the face and the brands of the Tour, what are our choices?”

Watson continued: “My overarching questions remain. 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? We need clarity and deserve full disclosure as to the financial health of the PGA Tour and the details of this proposed partnership.”

Watson has also questioned the PGA Tour’s reversal on its moral stance over the 9/11 terrorist attack following the merger. More than 3,000 people were killed during the atrocities in New York in 2001 and an FBI declassified document states that 15 of the 19 plane hijackers were Saudi Arabian nationals.

Monahan had been on record in an interview with Jim Nantz referencing 9/11 when explaining why PGA Tour players should remain loyal to his circuit.

“I have two families that are close to me that lost loved ones,” Monahan said one year ago. “My heart goes out to them, and I would ask that any player that has left, or that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologise for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Watson has challenged the PGA Tour on its conflicted moral stance and raised issues over the deal’s wider implications for players who remained loyal and those who jumped ship to the Saudi-backed LIV breakaway league.

He added: “These questions are compounded by the hypocrisy in disregarding the moral issue; a position which for a long time was publicly highlighted by Tour leadership. While it is accepted that players on all levels would value the opportunity to make more money, it has also been illustrated that not all of our players are in search of money at all costs.

“Those who stayed true to the Tour for whatever personal reason or position of moral conscience are more than a few outliers. There are widespread rumors on the Tour offering financial reparations to these players who rejected offers from LIV and remained loyal to our Tour. Surely, that alone misses the larger issue of context here? And in a related question, what if any, are the plans to reinstate Tour players who defected and now want to return to the PGA Tour?

“I still await Saudi acknowledgement of their role in the attacks of 9/11, which resulted in the loss of the innocent lives of 3000 of my fellow American citizens. I support 9/11Families United and their efforts to release supporting exculpatory US Government documents.

“That day, forever among the darkest in our nation’s history, is sadly not alone among the human rights violations we have seen employed by Saudi Arabia. I ask the Tour, how is a non-negotiable point for us one day one we negotiate around the next?

“My loyalty to golf and this country live in the same place and have held equal and significant weight with me over my lifetime. 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.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.