These Golf Sponsors Have—And Haven’t—Dropped Saudi Backed LIV Players

Rocket Mortgage joined several other large companies in terminating their sponsorship of star golfers over their defection from the PGA Tour to the controversial Saudi-funded LIV Golf series as the blowback against LIV Golf participants grows. Aside from Callaway, other golf equipment manufacturers have remained silent about their ties to LIV Golf players. During the first ever day of LIV Golf play on Thursday, Johnson wore a TaylorMade hat, Ian Poulter wore a Titleist hat and Louis Oosthuizen wore a PING hat, indicating their relationships with their long-time sponsors are business as usual. Mickelson notably did not wear any company logos Thursday, but did don a vest with the logo of the Augusta National Golf Club, the host of the Masters. The first true competitor to the PGA Tour, LIV Golf’s tournament this week is its first of eight 2022 events. Thanks to seemingly unlimited funding, the new league lured big names like Johnson and Mickelson with contracts reported to be worth over $100 million. LIV Golf’s prize money dwarfs the PGA Tour’s, offering $25 million in prize money for each regular season tournament, nearly tripling the PGA Tour’s average purse of $9.1 million. On Thursday, the PGA Tour suspended 17 golfers competing in the LIV Golf event and said they’d also suspend any golfers who joined the other tour in the future. Poulter told reporters Friday he planned to appeal the decision, saying the ban “makes no sense.”RBC Stops Sponsoring Golfers Johnson, McDowell Over Decision To Ditch PGA Tour For LIV Golf (Forbes)When It Comes To Prize Money, LIV Golf’s Debut In London Blows Away The PGA Tour (Forbes)LIV Golf: Who’s In And What We Know About The Saudi-Funded League Launching Thursday (Forbes) All data is taken from the source: http://forbes.com Article Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksau... #golf #newsstory #newstodayoncnn #newstodaymsnbc #newstodaybbc #bbcnewsworld #