PGA head blasts Saudi-funded tour
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan described the Saudi-funded league that has signed up Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau as a “series of exhibition matches” that spends billions of dollars on players without getting a return on its investment.
Monahan also said players paid an exorbitant amount of money would “have to be living under a rock” to not know they would be criticized for the source of the money. LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
“I would ask any player that has left, or any player that would ever consider leaving, ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’ ” Monahan said from Toronto on the CBS telecast of the RBC Canadian Open.
They were Monahan’s first public comments since Thursday, when Greg Norman’s LIV Golf series began and Monahan suspended all PGA Tour members who played at Centurion Golf Club outside London.
Monahan said he suspended the players for violating tournament regulations. They were denied releases to compete in the London event and chose to play anyway. Players typically get three releases for overseas events, and two dozen got them for the Saudi International.
Monahan said that was a single event associated with a recognized tour (Asian Tour), compared with a series of events that poses a direct challenge to the PGA Tour by playing in the U.S.
“It’s my job to protect, defend and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans, and that’s exactly what I did,” Monahan said.
McIlroy defends Canadian Open title
Rory McIlroy won the Canadian Open and gave the PGA Tour a strong response to the start of the LIV Golf Invitational, closing with an eight-under 62 to win a wild race to the finish with Justin Thomas and Tony Finau.
McIlroy, the 2019 champion, had his first title defense on the PGA Tour, even if he had to wait for it because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 and 2021 editions.
Thomas pushed him to the end at St. George’s Golf & Country Club in Toronto, and the tournament effectively ended on the 17th hole, when Thomas missed a 10foot par putt.
The victory was the second for McIlroy this season and 21st on the PGA Tour.
“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time,” McIlroy said. “Twenty-one PGA Tour wins, one more than somebody else.”
It was a dig at Norman, who had 20 career tour wins.
Henderson wins ShopRite in playoff
Brooke Henderson shot seven-under 64 and eagled the first playoff hole to beat Lindsey Weaver-Wright and triumph at the ShopRite LPGA Classic for her 11th tour victory and first this year.
Henderson overcame a four-shot deficit, then hit her second shot on the parfive No. 18 from 193 yards within 10 feet in the playoff at Galloway Township, N.J.
Weaver-Wright forced the playoff with birdies on four of the last six holes.
Elsewhere
Thongchai Jaidee became the first Thai winner in PGA Tour Champions history, shooting four-under 68 in the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wis . ... Top-ranked amateur and Irvine product Rose Zhang routed Women’s British Amateur champion Louise Duncan 7 and 5 as the U.S. defeated Britain and Ireland 151⁄2-41⁄2 at Ardmore, Pa., to win the Curtis Cup for the third straight time . ... Linn Grant became the first female player to win an event on the European Tour when the Swede obliterated a field of male and female golfers by nine strokes at the Scandinavian Mixed event in Tylosand, Sweden.