Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods set for big PGA Tour payday by Saudi investors amid LIV fight
The pair missed out on millions by staying loyal to the PGA Tour but they could be in line for a bumper payday after all.
Golf stars like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods who turned down a fortune to join the LIV Golf tour look set to be compensated after the breakaway outfit agreed to merge with the PGA Tour. The sport was hit by a bombshell last week when a joint statement announced that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf had agreed to merge into one single entity.
The men’s game has been locked in a civil war since the Saudi-funded LIV tour successfully lured a host of big-name players away from the PGA Tour with huge sign-on bonuses. But some of the games most recognisable stars including McIlroy and Woods stayed loyal to the PGA circuit missing out on a guaranteed joining fee of at least £79m ($100m).
Those same players have been left aghast by the prospect of the LIV tour rebels soon rejoining their tour but only after pocketing eight-figure sums elsewhere. However, it looks as though the likes of McIlroy, Woods, Jon Rahm and World No. 1 Scottie Sheffler are set to be compensated by LIV Golf as part of the framework merger agreement.
According to The Times, a ‘compensation fund’ is being created by the Private Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls the breakaway tour, that will be used to hand out money to players who missed out by resisting the temptation to join LIV Golf.
The move will allow rebels such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Kopeka and Ian Poulter, who all ditched the PGA Tour for LIV’s millions, to keep hold of the money they were paid to make the switch while providing a ‘levelling up’ mechanism for the players that didn’t.
