The Canadian Open is caught up in the golf war & More News Here

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Even although the second males’s main of the yr, the PGA Championship, is coming up subsequent week, the No. 1 story in the sport stays a start-up group’s try to disrupt the PGA Tour. Backed by the basically limitless funds of the Saudi Arabian authorities and fronted by Australian golf nice Greg Norman, the LIV Golf Invitational Series is attempting to lure gamers away from the PGA Tour with staggering purses.

$25 million US is up for grabs at every LIV regular-season match, together with $4 million for the winner — each exceeding the information for prize cash on the established tour. Other enticements embody a shorter 54-hole format and smaller 48-man fields with no cuts, so everybody who exhibits up will get paid handsomely.

But LIV’s recruiting efforts took a serious hit when Phil Mickelson mentioned the quiet half loud, telling golf author Alan Shipnuck that, principally, he was keen to miss Saudi Arabia’s horrendous human-rights file for this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.” (Safe to imagine the mountains of money enchantment to Phil too.)

The backlash from Lefty’s feedback appeared to scare off anybody who was on the fence about leaping ship, leaving LIV with Mickelson and different semi-washed guys like Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood as its greatest names. Norman did his league no favours both on Wednesday when he responded to a query about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alleged involvement in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by saying “Look, we’ve all made mistakes…”

The PGA Tour vs. LIV battle may increase the profile of the Canadian Open. All eyes will likely be on it to see who exhibits up in Toronto, who heads to London (the place the purse will likely be triple what’s provided at the Canadian Open) and who sits out the week altogether.

Maybe the Tour will even implore a few of its stars who won’t have made the journey to Canada to play there as a present of defiance in opposition to the upstart league. World No. 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler has already dedicated to play, and so has No. 7 Rory McIlroy — the most vocal critic of the Saudi-backed league. Also in are No. 4 Cameron Smith and No. 11 Dustin Johnson, the former Masters and U.S. Open champ who is Wayne Gretzky’s son in legislation.

In any occasion, Canada’s nationwide males’s championship will likely be in the highlight this yr in a method it most likely hasn’t been since Tiger Woods’ legendary sand shot in 2000 at Glen Abbey. Read extra about the Canadian Open’s position in the escalating golf war right here.