Golf Saudi boss will “create own Majors” if LIV players are banned
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LIV Golf players could play in their own Majors if they are banned from the four flagship men’s events, according to Golf Saudi boss Majed Al Sorour.
Sorour has vowed to “create his own Majors” for LIV’s stars if they find themselves pushed out of The Masters, US PGA Championship, US Open, and The Open and says he will “celebrate” if they are banned from the game’s flagship events.
While many of LIV’s players, including Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, have exemptions to play in the Majors thanks to previous results, the ongoing row over LIV’s Official World Golf Rankings status means its players cannot currently gain points to help secure their status in the Grand Slam events.
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Ahead of its Bangkok event, LIV announced a “strategic alliance” with the little-known MENA Tour, which it claimed immediately qualified its players for ranking points, but OWGR rejected that and is yet to make a decision on LIV’s status.
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Now Sorour, who is a close associate of Yasir Al Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi government’s public investment fund which bankrolls the series, has suggested he’ll take matters into his own hands.
“For now, the majors are siding with the Tour, and I don’t know why,” he told the New Yorker.
“If the majors decide not to have our players play? I will celebrate. I will create my own majors for my players.
“Honestly, I think all the tours are being run by guys who don’t understand business.”
LIV is preparing for the final event of its inaugural season with the Team Championship being played at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami from October 28-30, where $50m will be on the line. Dustin Johnson, who has earned more than $30m from the seven events to date, won the inaugural LIV Individual Championship ahead of Branden Grace and Peter Uilhein.
But Sorour also revealed to the New Yorker that Phil Mickelson’s explosive comments, where he branded the Saudis “scary motherf*****s”, almost caused LIV to fold before a single ball had been hit.
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“I called the boss (Rumayyan). I said, ‘Everyone’s walking away. Do you want to do it, or not?’”
According to Sorour, Rumayyan replied: “Get the biggest mediocres, get the ten that we have, get you and I, and let’s go play for twenty-five million dollars.”
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Brooks Koepka, winner of the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah, with Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Saudi Golf Federation.
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Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Saudi Golf Federation, and Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf
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His excellency Yasir Al Rumayyan and Majed Al Sorour (L), CEO of Saudi Golf Federation, talk with former US President Donald Trump at the LIV Golf Bedminster event.
