well turning to the biz of sports, the P. G. A.
Tour announcing it is suspending all golfers taking
part in the first two live golf event,
which cheat off earlier today, just outside of London,
that means 17 players including major champions like Phil Mickelson Dustin,
johnson and Sergio Garcia are no longer eligible to compete
and PGA Tour events or the President's Cup.
Well, joining me now is Hillary, Ford, witch, business analyst and golf expert.
Hillary, it's good to see you.
Why did the PGA Tour took such a bold move here?
Well,
they need to because they're competing against vast sums of
money so they have to take a tough stance.
That's what they're going to have to do.
This is a threat to the future of golf for them.
And there's been many contentions about them not
being fair and that this is vindictive,
don't forget of course they represent sort of a monopoly in the history of golf.
So you've got two sides to this story.
You've got those the purists,
those that feel that golf should only be a certain way
and that there are only these limited events that the P.
J. Puts on.
And then you've got other people who are saying, you know, obviously, you know,
this is all about money, money versus morality.
Um and then you have other people who have said like for example,
Rory Rory McIlroy said,
well that he has made mistakes before and a lot of
people make mistakes when they only do something for money.
And I think he actually had a rather good point when he said, you know,
it doesn't really change your life,
he still lives in the same three or four bedrooms of his house.
So I think Rory McIlroy has a very good point there,
but there are others who said like lee Westwood,
you know that he golf for a living and this is his job and
he needs to look at a pay rise as many people look at it.
The issue of course comes down to where is the money coming?
It is morality.
Um and the money is rather tempting for many
and the morality issues are of big contention.
So certainly this is impacting the live golf event, the first one,
as we see just outside of London as we were discussing Hillary.
But what do you think it might portend for other big majors out there?
The Masters, the U. S Open
at the open championship, of course they're run by different organizations,
but could this set some sort of precedent?
Well, of course they are run, you're totally right on a couple of counts.
Their number one, they are run by different organizations. The U. S. G. A runs the U.
S. Open and already Phil Mickelson has committed to play in the U. S. Open.
So if all of the players from the live Tour can play in the in the U. S. G. A.
Events, of course,
that makes it very different and they can right now actually a big big
falling point here is going to be,
what does Augusta decide to do because of course
the Masters getting that green jacket is huge.
That is going to be a tipping point. That is the full line. That is the red line.
There may be a lot of those pros who are waiting to see how Augusta rules.
If Augusta rules that any golf pro can still
play in the Masters despite wherever else they play.
If they play in the live tour, then I think you might see more defections.
There's also speculation kristen
that a lot of the PGA players are waiting until after the US Open to declare,
even though it's run by the USDA, they're just waiting to see
interesting.
Well,
I know the PJ also saying that players who participate in any future live Golf event,
they're going to receive the same punishment.
But noteworthy because bryson De Shambo and Patrick Reed are reportedly
said to take part in the live golf event next week,
um, next event that is in three weeks.
So how threatened do you think the PGA tour should feel here?
Well, of course, this is a big threat.
I think that you're seeing also that a couple of things, some people said, well,
there's so many golf pros going over there, it has been a drip, drip, drip.
There are only a few actually really highly ranked notable names.
The highest ranked international player of course is DJ is johnson and he is
though on the cusp of what they're talking about, the people have said, well,
it's those people that are on the outs or haven't won some majors in a while.
The last major that he won was two years ago at the Masters in 90 a few years ago,
the 19 at the Masters.
So what we have to look at is it's drip, drip, drip releasing those names,
how many are going to fall.
But yes, this is
disruptive for the golf industry. A lot of industries have been disrupted.
I mean, look at the taxi industry with Uber,
this has happened in so many different industries,
it's disruption and it's something really serious for the PGA to consider.
Okay, well, we just discussed here, Hillary,
the next live golf event that's starting in three weeks in Portland Oregon.
So back here in the States,
this is a Saudi backed event. A Saudi backed tour.
Do you think we could see the Saudi backed tour?
Look to do more to capture the US audience at a time when it is facing pushback?
Well, it is facing pushback of course, because of the morality issues,
you're totally right.
The next event will be here in Portland Oregon
and de Shambo has committed to playing that,
so has read, but a couple of things I mean when people talk about the morality issues,
what I always say is, and I think I'm not saying that,
I don't think the morality issues are huge,
but when people put gas in their car and if it's Saudi Oil,
did they ever have a problem putting gas in their car?
Because that's how the Saudis have all their money.
So everybody that's throwing stones at other people taking money,
they certainly didn't have a problem filling up their
car with petrol in the UK or gas here,
did they?
And how many people would turn down that amount of money?
I don't know, but that would be my question back to them.
It's very easy for people to criticize and what
a lot of people don't seem to realize is
these young PGA pros don't forget when they play in PGA events,
they make absolutely no money if they don't make the cut,
of course they have golf sponsors, but that's a number of days commitment,
usually best part of a week,
including playing in the pro ab and they don't make any money.
It's tough. They live their lives on the edge.
Some of these young pros, whereas now to have a guaranteed income, I mean,
how many jobs your job?
Any of our viewers job do you want to go
to work for five days with the risk of getting nothing
versus having a guaranteed salary.
I think that's the way people don't realize these pros have to weigh things up.
All right.
Hillary ford, witch business analyst and golf expert Hillary,
thanks so much for coming on