Inside secret peace deal – brokered by Newcastle owner
Staveley, co-owner of Premier League side, hinted that merger talks were under way to avoid US court battle
Norman was not involved in clandestine talks that turned a civil war into a ‘growing the game of golf’ love party
Amanda Staveley apparently saw Lee Westwood at a recent Newcastle United match and the football club director said: “We’ve got ‘HE’ and Jay Monahan around the table.” The wheels were thus set in motion for one of the great reverse manoeuvres in the history of professional sport.
“HE” is how Newcastle and LIV Golf refer to “His Excellency” Yasir Al-rumayyan, the St James’ Park chairman and governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Monahan is the commissioner of the PGA Tour who declared he would never engage in negotiations with PIF or LIV. Never the twain shall meet.
Westwood would not confirm the exchange with Staveley when approached by Telegraph Sport yesterday, though he said: “I had an inkling, but nothing to this extent.”
The former world No 1, blessed with his “inkling”, was one of the enlightened. Hardly anybody knew about this deal to merge the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with LIV Golf, the Saudi-funded circuit – and that included the overwhelming majority of the Tour’s big names, not to mention Greg Norman, the LIV Golf chief executive.
Insiders have confirmed that Norman was not involved in the clandestine talks that, in the time it took to press send on a media release, transformed a bitter civil war into a “growing the game of golf ” love party. There are seven more events and six more months until the end of the second season of the LIV Golf League, and it is hard to imagine Norman, the twotime Open winner, being involved.
The Australian is paid tens of million a year by LIV, so would walk away an even richer man than when he joined in autumn of 2021. He will also have left an indelible mark on the sport. Some will say that will represent the stain of sportswashing and self-interest, but the more generous take will be of opportunism and flooding the fairways with billions.
Whatever, nobody can deny that Norman, through his bluster and sometimes disgraceful comments, afforded the breakaway an abundance of controversy and thus publicity. If he goes, the Kingdom should be grateful to him.
The first whispers came in November of Al-rumayyan seeking a passage out of the ugly maze of rancour. Telegraph Sport revealed that the PIF governor had talked to at least one potential replacement for Norman, not so much to fire him, but as a movehim-upstairs approach. By then, Tiger Woods and Rory Mcilroy had declared he needed to leave before any talks could take place.
Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive, who had originally brought PIF into the pro game with the 2019 Saudi International, saw his chance. “If Norman was gone, Keith knew he could bring Jay to the table,” a source said. “Jay had refused to deal with the first iteration of LIV and had continued to decline to answer LIV requests. With their strategic alliance, Pelley was looking for an avenue and eventually found it.”
Pelley will not confirm. The rows carried on and
LIV was handed momentum, not only with repeated social media barbs from Phil Mickelson but also with Rory Mcilroy’s seemingly relentless opposition, and when Brooks Koepka and Mickelson finished runners-up in the Masters, and Adelaide hosted an event which would grace any tour, the breakaway’s credibility was at its highest. Koepka then went on to win the US PGA. Ignore LIV now.
In the background, legal fights were raging. By April, the DP World Tour had won its case against its rebels, and Europe legends such as Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson had resigned and thus made themselves ineligible for the Ryder Cup.
It was sad but still a win for the old-guard tour. However, in the US courts the machinations were far more complex. This threatened to go on and on. Therein was the crux of the compromise. For the Saudis, the prospect of being told to disclose PIF details in the trial played a huge part in the search for a compromise, while the PGA Tour was keen to avoid anti-trust charges.
Furthermore, the amount it has been costing to keep the Tour’s top players sweet, with $20 million elevated events and $100 million player impact programs, might not have seemed sustainable.
But it remains a stunning move. The extent of Staveley’s involvement is unknown, but Pelley was crucial in the negotiations. The Telegraph has discovered that the people who knew were in the single figures, and Al- Rumayyan explained how the deal was agreed.
“We met at London,” he said. “We had lunch, followed by a next-day round of golf, then another lunch. We had discussions, we covered everything.” Except it seems that no round was played.
The uncertainty has been replaced by more uncertainty, depending on the reaction. In one sense the saga has been resolved, Yet it still presses on relentlessly.