KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Super Golf League continues to be a frequent topic on the PGA Tour even as players prepare for the year’s second major championship on the Ocean Course.
According to various sources, representatives from the potential breakaway circuit plan to meet with a few managers of the game’s top players Tuesday on Kiawah Island.
The SGL is the latest version of the proposed new league that would feature Formula One-style teams with “franchise owners” and massive purses, along with contract offers for top players that one report pegged at $30-50 million.
Earlier this month, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan warned players that anyone who decides to associate with the SLG would be immediately suspended from the Tour and “likely” expelled, but those warnings haven’t changed everyone’s mind.
“There’s pluses and minuses for everything,” said Lee Westwood, who has been linked to the start-up circuit in various reports. “They’ve obviously got a lot of money and they’ve come out and sent a few shock waves about and people feel threatened. You know, the people that feel threatened are trying to combat it.”
Westwood said he hasn’t been approached to be a “franchise owner” but if he were, his position was clear.
“For me at nearly 50 it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? If somebody stood here and offered me 50 million quid to play golf when I’m 48, it’s a no-brainer,” he said.
In other news related to a possible breakaway tour, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said on Tuesday that anyone who joined said circuit would not be eligible to compete in the Ryder Cup or the PGA Championship.
“If someone wants to play on a Ryder Cup for the U.S., they’re going to need to be a member of the PGA of America, and they get that membership through being a member of the Tour,” Waugh said. “I believe the Europeans feel the same way, and so I don’t know that we can be more clear than that.
“It’s a little murkier in our championship, but to play, from a U.S. perspective, you also have to be a member of the tour and the PGA of America to play in our championship, and we don’t see that changing.”