Golf in 'bad place' as chief hits out at money-obsessed golfers in Saudi era

The plea was made by Martin Slumbers, the outgoing CEO of The R&A, on the back of some of the top players now seeming only to be interested in pots of cash rather than what they can actually achieve in the game.

Jon Rahm, for instance, turned his back on the PGA Tour to sign for LIV Golf for around $450 million just under a year ago, joining the likes of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson on the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.

Players on the PGA Tour, meanwhile, are now playing for bigger prize funds as a direct result of LIV Golf’s emergence and it was reported recently that Americans players are set to be paid roughly $400,000 each to tee up in next year’s match in New York.

It’s really all just been about money over the past couple of years and now everyone is waiting to see what the outcome will be from ongoing talks between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“I’m not at the table, so I’m not part of the ongoing discussions,” Slumbers told The Scotsman in one of his final interviews before handing over the reins of the St Andrews-based governing body to his successor, former Northampton Saints chief executive Mark Darbon. “I don’t know exactly what is going on. But I do think we are in a bad place.

“I feel very passionately that for the future of the game and to keep the professional game not becoming de-linked with the amateur game, we need stability. I don’t really mind what the outcome is. We just need stability and move on.

“A lot of talk is about one tour, but, if we end up with two tours, then fine. To me, I don’t mind that. I grew up when the European Tour was absolutely pari-passu with Seve [Ballesteros], [Nick] Faldo and others. But we need stability.

“I have expressed this multiple times and not just with the media but other parties as well, we need professional golf to be financially stable. I don’t believe it is at the moment and we need to have to absolutely focus on making sure it is. That’s how you get long-term progress. If it’s not, it will eventually fall apart.”

TV ratings in the US dropped dramatically this year, with the interest of some golf fans now only really being spiked when players from the traditional tours and those flying the LIV Golf flag come together in the same field for the majors.

“Irrespective of how stability works out, the best players in the world have to play against each other more than four times per year,” added Slumbers. “I have learned a lot in the past ten years, but, in professional golf, the biggest thing I have learned is that actually the most important and most compelling golf is the best players playing on great venues. Venues really matter.

“It doesn’t just have to be the historical courses, but they need to be great golf courses that allow the best players in the world to differentiate themselves. If they are too easy, it is kind of not very interesting to watch.

“Finally, I absolutely hope that we stop talking about money leading everything and we start talking about the values of the game. We start talking about the history of the game, the venues and the characters who are playing it.

“People are saying that in large amounts of golf tournaments no one is watching. I think people are kind of being turned off by this constant divisiveness and money. If you look at the best businesses in the world, it’s all about the product. The money happens.”

The pair were concentrating more on their own golf than money matters when they played together in last year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, but has Slumbers talked to PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan about the Saudis investing in The Open?

“Not into The Open, no,” he insisted. “But the world has changed and I take a view now that the Saudis have made a significant investment into golf and they are going to be part of golf for the future. They want to invest more money into the game and we should be finding the right ways for them to be able to do it for the future of the game.”