A year ago, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan described the villainous LIV Golf League in two words.

“It’s an unreasonable threat,” he said. “I’m not interested in the return on investment or the true growth of the game.”

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour released new language on Saudi-backed businesses.

Partner.

In a startling act of hypocrisy unparalleled in the mercenary world of professional sports, the PGA Tour has joined forces with its moral foe to merge with the same LIV Golf League whose existence has always been condemned by all PGA Tour members. Announced. and preaching.

A year ago, Monahan said LIV asylum seekers should consider their own moral compass.

“Maybe it will be a problem for players who choose to go pick up the money…and I think they have to live under a rock not to know that there are significant implications,” Monaghan said. said Mr.

On Tuesday, he crawled under the same rock, announcing that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would not only agree to a merger, but would also become the premier tour sponsor.

Yeah, basically Saudi Arabia owns golf now.

The next time I curl up on my sofa on a Sunday afternoon and watch a PGA Tour match come to a dramatic conclusion, I realize that the tournament has been bought by a country with no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, and a history of discrimination against women. I hope you understand.

The next time you see Jon Rahm or Scotty Scheffler being interviewed after a round, you know that part of their salary comes from the country that killed Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. I want you to.

“Today is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monaghan said in a statement.

It was more like he knew and was loved.

The spiteful PGA Tour’s sudden change of stance took the country’s players by surprise, with some sharing their disbelief on social media.

Colin Morikawa tweeted, “I love finding the morning news on Twitter.”

The shock is real. The question is clear.

The LIV Golf League was once accused of allowing Saudi Arabia to spend billions of dollars to “sports wash” its history of human rights violations.

But now, is the PGA Tour shamelessly pumping money out of the same sewers?

A packed Monahan told CNBC, “Golf is better than what we did here today.”

Phil Mickelson, the most famous member of the LIV Golf League, was once accused by his colleagues of being an opportunist who robbed security deposits in ignorance of Saudi Arabia’s immoral past.

But now, will Mickelson be the biggest winner of this match?

“Today is a great day,” he tweeted.

sad day. ugly day. This merger looks like a drive into the woods. It feels like I’ve removed both foot pads. It’s ugly, unexpected, and really… unnecessary.

The PGA Tour didn’t have to do that. The PGA Tour has put LIV in a pinch. When was the last time you watched an LIV event? Have you watched an LIV event?

Few people were watching this rogue tour, even fewer following it regularly, there was no buzz, little coverage, and almost zero interest.

LIV had fewer sponsors and less support, and members could well be lining up for a return to the PGA Tour soon.

And just a few weeks ago, with one LIV golfer, Brooks Koepka, winning the PGA Championship, four other LIV players in the top 20, and 17 LIV players competing in the event, the Tour went into terror. Wrapped.

I was worried that the best golfers would soon be gone. He was concerned that more people would follow Mr. Koepka and his money. It panicked and grabbed the same cash it once treated as dirty.

Some people applaud the merger because golf fans don’t care about politics, they just want to meet the best golfers in the world, and this move will see that happen again.

But here’s the problem — if the PGA Tour had just waited, it might have enjoyed an influx of returning stars without the Saudi stigma.

A year ago, Monaghan said: “When someone tries to buy this sport… I don’t think any of us have that kind of vision for the game.”

On Tuesday, he just allowed Saudi Arabia to buy the sport.

Commenting on the 9/11 families expressing their outrage at the LIV golfers who betrayed the United States a year ago, Monahan told CBS: Should I have apologized for being on the PGA Tour? “

It was Monaghan and the PGA Tour who owed the sports world an apology on Tuesday.

Most disappointing shank ever.