Chris Bumbaca, USA Today sports reporter, joins Cheddar News to discuss the new LIV Golf league and how it impacts the PGA Tour.

Between Bells

LIV Golf Goes Head-To-Head With PGA Tour

this is an opportunity that allows me to still have golf in my life but also have a balance where I can be more present. Um I can be more engaged with the people I really care about. And that is that is why when I think about being a part of live golf, I feel so good about it. As you saw their top golfers from the U. S. Have joined the list of those participating in the first tournament hosted by Live Golf. The Saudi backed league, a direct competitor to the PGA Tour. In response to this, the PGA Tour reiterated that its members were not permitted to participate in the event saying, quote, members who violate the tournament regulations are subject to disciplinary actions. End quote joining us now to discuss this is chris boom baca usa Today sports reporter. Welcome to the show chris as we noted there 17 pro golfers including major championship winners like Phil Mickelson and Dustin johnson have been suspended by the PGA Tour for competing in the Saudi back live golf event near London. The first day of play got underway on thursday. What is the significance of those golfers participating in this tournament? Thanks for having me, Alicia appreciate it. I think the old saying is competition breeds innovation, but in this case competition for the PGA Tour represents an existential threat to the organization. Uh This is because you're having the top, some of the top players in the world, such as Dustin johnson, you saw the whole list of the 17, they're jumping ship to this uh New league which has lots of prize money, thanks to Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and they have no issue dishing out 25 million in prizes at every single one of its three day tournaments throughout the year. That's a lot of money less golf. Some of these guys have seen this opportunity and uh, have decided that this is the best course of action for them and their families weigh in on the level of controversy here, because the reality is, I'm hearing two sides of the equation here. One is that this is an event obviously backed by Saudi Arabia is a lot of controversy, even with the death of Kamal Khashoggi, with, with other kind of human rights issues. On the other hand, some people are saying, listen to P. J just utilizing it as a weapon because they just feel threatened in terms of the competition level that's here, because to your point, you're talking about 220 something million dollars in a prize pool on top of names like Phil Mickelson allegedly getting paid, I think $100 million just to show up, right? Yeah, and it's, it just kind of comes down to, you know, whether or not these norms are going to be able to sustain, uh, you know, this massive amounts of wealth, what Saudi Arabia is doing here isn't just to convince people that their golf tour is better. They're trying to open up their country for industry and investment, and they think that golf is the way to get on the good side of people because um you know, just to kind of offset these human rights atrocities for some of these golfers. That's enough for others like those today, like Rory McIlroy who defended the PJS decision, it's not enough including those nine figure settlements just to show up before they even play. Um So I think that's kind of where they're at right now. What's the threat to the P. G. A. Tour? I mean should they be concerned about losing some some major players moving out of Phil Mickelson because he's had a lengthy career but you think of a Dustin johnson um and that's a player kind of at his prime right now. Yeah and and for the PGA tour it really is gonna come down to what the majors themselves decide right. Um next week Phil Mickelson's gonna go play in that U. S. Open. Um And then the majors do have that authority to decide which players are invited or not. Um So I think that that's really gonna be where it matters most is whether or not these players are allowed to participate in majors because that's where I think like the PGA tour gets a lot of their their popularity and notoriety and impact. So I think that's gonna really be the uh the bellwether here, obviously there's a huge money incentive for the players right again Phil Mickelson. I think the reports are that he could be just being paid $100 million just to show up for this. I think the same as for for Dustin johnson and the price pool is still a huge amount of money over $200 million. But aside from the money, what's the appeal to jump to a new league? Mhm. I think just the newness of it is appealing. Um and the fact that it's 54 holes, so you only have three days of competition versus four, obviously easier for the players. Uh there's a team aspect involved that also leads to more prize money. I think out of the 25 million available, five million set aside for this team aspect lowest team score among, I think golfers are grouped into groups of four. So we have 48 players, 12 teams. And I think There's also just more attention. The, I think they, yesterday, during the broadcast, they said that there were 54 cameras out there on the course for 48 players. So that's a lot of attention on. Yes, certainly with all these headlines around it, I mean, we're even covering it to that extent. Um This is the inaugural season for live golf. I'm curious in terms of your opinion in your expertise, do you see this playing out as something successfully and becoming a bigger thing? Or is this potentially just a blip on the radar because to your point earlier, this is not a focus on on Saudi Arabia's part to really have an impact in golf. It just seems like opening up enterprise and industry for the country. Right. And in North America this is something that we don't see the sense of our top sports leagues being challenged by these direct competitors. Usually the level of competition is much lower than than these top leagues that we see. Um and usually those lower leagues suffer because they don't have the level of investment and financial backing and just promise of longevity behind it. That's not the case here. Obviously with Saudi Arabia and the amount of money that they have at their disposal and their desire to earn goodwill to offset, you know, their place in the world. So it's hard to say right now. I think that is around though. It's working so far. It certainly seems like it is. We'll see if they end up getting that goodwill that they're trying to earn right now as a result of this in particular, this league chris really appreciate your time and your insight, chris, Baumbach, a USa Today sports reporter