A senior official has pointed the finger at Patrick Cantlay for Jon Rahm’s £450million defection, putting the PGA Tour on the back foot in Saudi merger negotiations.
Rahm stunned the golf world by announcing his move to LIV Golf on Thursday evening, despite denying several times that he would play for the Saudi-funded series. The loss of the world number 3 and current Masters champion has sparked the blame game among those left on the PGA Tour, with accusations of a power grab led by US Ryder Cup star Cantlay behind the sudden change of heart of the Spaniard.
“If Cantlay had not tried to take over the (PGA Tour) policy council, Jay (Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner) would have made a deal with the Saudis and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) would not have felt the need to reopen that limitless wallet to sign Rahm,” the industry’s leading executive told Telegraph Sport. “But the Saudis believed they were in danger of being shut out by all the American investors who suddenly appeared and were encouraged by a few other players. in the policy council, so PIF took action.”
This is in line with a report in Sports Illustrated – the celebrated American magazine – which claimed that in the early stages of negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF, the Saudis offered a $1 billion ‘equalization pool’ for the PGA Tour players who played LIV- rejected offers. before the framework agreement [in June]”.
But with Cantlay leading a pro-revolt that ultimately led to the six players on the policy board getting the final say on any deal made with PIF or other investors, the Saudis felt they could be left out.
And with Monahan set to meet Yasir Al-Rumayyan – the governor of the $700 billion PIF and chairman of both LIV and Newcastle United – Rahm was lured as a bargaining chip ahead of new negotiations. “Saudis probably didn’t think it would all work out to reach an agreement,” said Paul McGinley, a former Ryder Cup captain and former DP World Tour board member. “So they brought out the checkbook again to turn things in their favor.”
McGinley expressed the hope that a deal can still be reached with PIF and he is supported in this wish by fellow countryman Rory McIlroy. Before McIlroy resigned from his own position on the policy council last month, he indicated that it was his wish for PIF to be involved. On Thursday, he again emphasized his concerns if they are left out.
“My fear is that we continue on this path where we have competing tours, which divides eyes on the game,” he said. “The majority of people love the PGA Tour, but if LIV were to take a few players every year it would really divide it – and that’s not good for anyone.
“Golf would cannibalize itself as a sport. Having the best golfers under one umbrella is the best way forward. We need to get everyone back together and try to forget what happened in the past. Let bygones be bygones and we all move forward together.”
However, McIlroy is well aware that this scenario is in danger due to the current dynamics in the policy council. In August, Monahan tried to calm players’ unrest over being blindsided and, as Rahm said, “betrayed” by the framework agreement, by giving voting control to the pros, by agreeing to resign Randall Stephenson – the former CEO of AT&T – to be replaced by Tiger. Forests. Now, with a six-to-five split between players and executives, the golfers would ultimately have the final say.
Sports Illustrated claims that Cantlay, Woods and Jordan Spieth – McIlroy’s replacement on the board – have formed an alliance that is courting US investors including Fenway Sports and Todd Boehly, the owners of Premier League clubs Liverpool and Chelsea respectively.
But the publication singled out Cantlay as the person who “took control” and who “somehow turned himself into perhaps the most powerful person on the PGA Tour, including the commissioner.”
So the focus will fall on world number 5. Cantlay is no stranger to controversy. At the Ryder Cup in Rome in September, he was accused of splitting up the U.S. team area by refusing to wear an official hat as a form of alleged protest over the players’ failure to pay. Telegraph Sport was told that week that Cantlay was casually asked by a TV interviewer why he didn’t have a cap and that he pointed to a PGA of America official and said something to the effect of ‘because he’s getting paid to be here and not me’. .
Cantlay was ridiculed by the fans in Rome before his American teammates gathered around him and waved their hats in the air in support. This led to inappropriate and already infamous scenes on the 18th green between McIlroy and Cantlay’s caddy, Joe LaCava, and later in the parking lot. In the aftermath of that dispute, McIlroy said: “My relationship with Cantlay is average at best. We don’t have much in common and see the world very differently.”
McIlroy cited time constraints and the need to focus on his game as reasons for leaving the policy council, but his disagreements over the direction of travel in negotiations with Cantlay have become central to a complex story. Next week, Monahan Al-Rumayyan will try to assure that Sawgrass headquarters still wants a deal, but as Sports Illustrated stated, “the Tour is in a worse negotiating position than it was this summer.”
Woods, Spieth and McIlroy did not respond to requests for comment, while Cantlay’s agent declined to comment when the allegations were made to him by Sports Illustrated.
Rumors are swirling that LIV would be speaking to other big names, with US Ryder Cup player Tony Finau repeatedly mentioned as a future member of Rahm’s team. The supposed peace has never seemed so tenuous.