The empire struck again on Wednesday, however it was too little too late.
Such is the state of the PGA Tour after commissioner Jay Monahan’s newest chess transfer — an act that smacked of desperation as he announced a revamped, condensed schedule that caters to the tour’s elite with extra profitable purses — in an effort to stave off the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf sequence.
But it surely by no means wanted to come back to this, as a result of Monahan and the PGA Tour had an opportunity to chop off the Saudi-backed tour idea at its knees again within the fall had they been proactive.
As an alternative, they took an method that may solely be perceived as grasping and smug and now they’ve develop into reactive, discovering themselves on the defensive.
The disgrace for them is that it by no means needed to attain this stage, and this isn’t factor for the PGA Tour or, extra importantly, golf.
To evaluation: The Post reported exclusively in February that three high-level PGA Tour gamers together with a deep-pocketed investor made a proposal to Monahan that will have eradicated the specter of the Saudi-backed tour.
Based on three unbiased sources — two of which have been gamers — with intimate information of that proposal, the PGA Tour squashed the choice idea.
The idea, which was offered to Monahan in October, consisted of an eight-event crew sequence that includes the highest gamers within the sport that will be blended into the PGA Tour’s current schedule. These occasions would have changed a few of the Tour’s fledgling occasions, which the player-investor group would purchase from the Tour.

Based on one of many sources, the monetary backer of the group, who’s already in enterprise with the PGA Tour on its legalized playing aspect, dedicated to speculate $500 million up entrance to get the idea began with one other $500 million to come back because the idea gained footing.
The catch: These eight occasions have been going to be participant and investor-owned (50 p.c every), and that didn’t swimsuit the fits at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Seashore, Fla. — although it was clear this might put an finish to the Saudi LIV Golf menace.
Monahan introduced the proposal to the chairman of the PGA Tour’s Coverage Board, Ed Herlihy, and on Oct. 30, in keeping with one of many sources, it was shot down by Herlihy, a strong company legal professional, who instructed the investor: “If it’s not one hundred pc owned and managed by the PGA Tour, will probably be seen as hostile.’’
Take into consideration what has transpired since then.

LIV Golf has been gaining momentum by the day as gamers defect from the PGA Tour. On Wednesday, Brooks Koepka, who’s ranked nineteenth on the planet and has received 4 main championships since 2018, turned the newest PGA Tour star to announce his involvement with LIV.
He follows Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and quite a few different huge names already on board cashing the Saudi checks. All three of the gamers who have been part of that player-investor proposal to Monahan are part of LIV Golf.
One of many sources who was part of the proposal stated that when their monetary backer instructed Monahan, “Jay, I imagine this Saudi league goes to occur and this could be a good way to thwart it off,’’ Monahan replied, “I don’t imagine it’s going to occur.’’
Quick-forward to Wednesday and take heed to Monahan’s reply when he was requested, “On reflection, did you or the PGA Tour underestimate affect that the LIV Golf enterprise would have.’’
“I don’t imagine so,’’ Monahan stated. “I’ve taken it very critically from the outset. So, I wouldn’t … I wouldn’t recommend that I’ve underestimated it in any respect.’’
Aside from saying the suspension of the 17 PGA Tour gamers who competed within the first LIV occasion two weeks in the past in London, Monahan has been conspicuously quiet as Norman and the LIV group have poached a few of his largest stars.
That passive public method, in keeping with gamers, has been off-putting, with a lot of them wanting a present of power from him.
Thus, maybe, Wednesday’s public lashing out at LIV, throughout which Monahan denounced the Saudi-backed sequence as a “overseas monarchy that’s spending billions of {dollars} in an try to purchase the sport of golf.’’
He additionally stated, “We welcome good wholesome competitors, however the LIV Saudi golf league shouldn’t be that. It’s an irrational menace that’s not involved with a return on funding or true progress of the sport.’’
Together with these preventing phrases, Monahan additionally revealed a revamped schedule that caters to the tour’s elite with some $54 million in added purses and, at the least partly, resembles some that proposal offered to the Tour within the fall.
With so many high stars already having left for LIV Golf and extra anticipated to comply with, all of it sounded too little, too late on the a part of the PGA Tour commissioner and his superiors, who appeared so hellbent on having all of it that they overlooked the menace they may have snuffed out months in the past.