The Canadian Open is involved in the golf war | CBC Sports

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Despite the second men’s major of the year, the PGA Championship, taking place next week, the No. 1 story in the sport remains an attempt by an emerging organization to disrupt the PGA Tour. Backed by essentially unlimited funding from the Saudi Arabian government and spearheaded by Australian golf great Greg Norman, the LIV Golf Invitational Series is trying to lure players away from the PGA Tour with staggering prizes.

There is $25 million at stake in each LIV regular season tournament, including $4 million for the winner, both breaking records for prize money on the established tour. Other incentives include a shorter 54-hole format and smaller 48-player courses with no cuts, so everyone who shows up gets paid handsomely.

But LIV’s recruiting efforts took a major hit when Phil Mickelson called out the quiet part, telling golf writer Alan Shipnuck that he was basically willing to overlook Saudi Arabia’s horrendous human rights record. for this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform the way the PGA Tour operates.” (It’s safe to assume mountains of cash also appeal to Phil.)

The backlash from Lefty’s comments seemed to scare off anyone hesitant about jumping ship, leaving LIV with Mickelson and other half-washed guys like Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood as its biggest names. Norman also did his league no favors on Wednesday when he responded to a question about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alleged involvement in the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying “Look, we’ve all made mistakes…”

Now for the Canadian angle. This week, the PGA Tour rejected release requests submitted by golfers who want to play at the inaugural LIV event June 9-11 in London. The Tour said this conflicts with the Canadian Open, which is due to take place later that week at St. George’s in Toronto. This means that anyone who goes ahead and plays in the LIV opener could face disciplinary action from the Tour, perhaps as severe as a lifetime ban.

The battle PGA Tour vs. LIV could raise the profile of the Canadian Open. All eyes will be on him to see who shows up in Toronto, who heads to London (where the purse will be triple what’s on offer at the Canadian Open) and who sits out of the week altogether.

Perhaps the Tour will even implore some of its stars who may not have traveled to Canada to play there as a show of defiance against the new league. World No. 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler has already committed to play, as has No. 7 Rory McIlroy, the Saudi-backed league’s most vocal critic. There’s also No. 4 Cameron Smith and No. 11 Dustin Johnson, a former Masters and US Open champion and son-in-law of Wayne Gretzky.

Regardless, Canada’s men’s national championship will be in the spotlight this year in a way it probably hasn’t been since Tiger Woods’ legendary sand shot in 2000 at Glen Abbey. Read more about the Canadian Open’s role in escalating the golf war here.



Reference-www.cbc.ca

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