Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee reveals the huge fee Will Zalatoris turned down to join LIV Golf.
Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee has taken to Twitter to praise a number of PGA Tour stars including Will Zalatoris for refusing huge money offers to join the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf League.Zalatoris “told the Saudis (MBS) to stuff their $130m offer because he wanted to be, not only on the right side of history, but to create an inspiring legacy,” according to former PGA Tour winner Chamblee.
The 2022 FedEx St Jude champion reportedly gave the offer some serious thought, but in the end decided it would be best to stay on the PGA Tour and concentrate on major qualifying.
Zalatoris, who is 27 years old, has placed second in three major tournaments (the 2021 Masters, 2022 PGA, and 2022 US Open).The talented American has been ruled out of action ever since undergoing back surgery in April 2023, but he will return in 2024.
Despite finding himself in the world’s top 10 prior to his spell on the sidelines, Zalatoris will return from outside the top 30.
PGA Tour players from his home state of Texas like World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and three-time major champion Jordan Spieth were recognized by Texan Chamblee, who has criticized LIV Golf numerous times since its launch in the summer of 2022, for “turning down tens of millions.”
Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau were eventually acquired by LIV Golf for sums greater than those made by Zalatoris.
However, Chamblee thinks that all of the top PGA Tour players of today have chosen to stick rather than twist.
He tweeted
“As a Texan, I’m well aware of my bias, but bias withstanding, not enough can be said about the Texans who turned down the crazy millions to join LIV. Grateful to PGA Tour stars Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth who helped ensure the history of the PGA Tour by turning down tens of millions, but especially to Will Zalatoris, who as an injured but rising potential superstar told the Saudis (MBS) to stuff their 130 million dollar offer because he wanted to be, not only on the right side of history, to create an inspiring legacy. In addition to Zallatoris, the Coody brothers, Pierceson and Parker, turned down multimillion dollar and potentially life changing offers because they believed legacy has more currency than hypocrisy. The Saudis (MBS) want to use golf to launder their reputation but perhaps as much or more, to use golf as a crutch to diversify their economy that is almost solely based upon petroleum but largely hindered by their subjugation and some would argue their enslavement of women, which truncates their intellectual and entrepreneurial development. They want to use golf as a vehicle for economic expansion, to obviate the necessity of modernizing their archaic and medieval views about women, which obviously hinders their economic expansion. If we allow golf to be bought out by the Saudis ( MBS), we will tacitly be supporting the subjugation of women. Golf is facing an existential threat that has far more implications than even the game of golf.”
It remains to be seen how many more PGA Tour players decide to join LIV Golf ahead of its 2024 season, but given all the extra cash pumped into the elevated events, a new Monday Night TGL hosted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, and potential new merger with LIV Golf’s very own bankrollers, PIF, it would seem highly unlikely there will be too much transfer activity among the world’s top 20 this off-season.
Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, will, however, make every effort to halt the PGA Tour’s momentum in retaining its stars.
The Great White Shark recently remarked that over the past 12 months, player agents have been clamoring to join and his phone has been ringing nonstop.
As LIV Golf enters its third season, it is unclear which players have shown the most interest.