Phil Mickelson has claimed that the PGA Tour turned down a huge investment offer from entertainment giant, Endeavor, due to the "obnoxious greed" of the Tour's Commissioner, Jay Monahan.
Endeavor, the parent company of WWE, the UFC and powerful sports agencies like IMG, had publicly expressed interest in investing in the PGA Tour as it begins working with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) on a framework agreement for a new entity. Yet Endeavor's interest was turned down, the company's president and COO, Mark Shapiro, told Sportico this week.
LIV golfer Mickelson reacted to the news on his social media account on X (formerly known as Twitter) by claiming that Endeavor's offer and a previous one from Silver Lake, a global technology investment firm, were declined due to Monahan's hunger for power and control which helped force players into the arms of the Saudi-backed league.
Writing on X, Mickelson said: "For clarity’s sake, Endeavor didn’t try to invest two years ago, Silver Lake did. Endeavor were to run eight elevated events and the players and Silver Lake would own the new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity.
"October 30,2021 Ed Herlihy (the PGA's policy board chairman) said the Tour would take a hostile view and shut this down if it’s not 100% owned by the PGA Tour. Then in February of 2022 Silver Lake went back to Monahan and said The (Saudi) League was going to happen and these new elevated events could prevent players from leaving and Jay said: 'The players won’t go, they know what we will do to them so we won’t be doing this'.
"Silver Lake went back to Jay again May of 2022 and the same conversation took place. Jay and Ed had three opportunities to have elevated events that would be fully funded and could prevent division, but their need to control everything (obnoxious greed) blinded their judgement. Let’s get the facts straight."
The PGA Tour's framework agreement with the DP World Tour and the Saudis over a merger is set to expire 31st December as the sides work to agree a more concrete deal. That initial agreement gave the PIF right of first refusal on any new investment in the Tour's new for-profit body called PGA Tour Enterprises.
But this latest development raises the possibility of Endeavor still investing in the PGA Tour if the Tour are unable to agree a deal with the PIF amid persistent criticism of LIV. Fenway Sports Group is also reportedly interested in investing. Fenway owns MLB's Boston Red Sox, the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and the Premier League giants Liverpool.
Endeavor CEO, Ari Emanuel, said earlier this year that the company nearly invested $1 billion into LIV Golf before pulling out at the request of PGA Tour commissioner Monahan.
Golf Monthly have contacted the PGA Tour for comment.
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