The PGA Tour only joined into a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour to block LIV Golf, Australian pro Scott Hend says.
The strategic alliance was formalised and strengthened in June and will see 10 DP World Tour players earn PGA Tour cards each year, the guarantee of increased prize pools in Europe and formal routes from Australia and South Africa to the DP World Tour. The alliance also saw three co-sanctioned events between the two tours, including the Genesis Scottish Open, and the PGA Tour taking a larger stake in European Tour productions. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also joined the board at Wentworth.
The alliance has been somewhat controversial so far, with some believing that the PGA Tour is getting the better side of the deal. One of those players is three-time DP World Tour winner and 10-time Asian Tour winner Scott Hend, who described the alliance as “bull****.”
“Bull****. It’s bull****. All they’ve said is hot air, we’ve had hot air fed to us about these events that we found out stuff after them,” Hend told Golf Monthly. “My personal opinion on it, it’s bull****. Until I’m given information that proves different to that, that’ll be my thoughts on the matter.
“I didn’t agree with these two events that they played in Kentucky and Reno [co-sanctioned Barbasol and Barracuda Championships] what the finer details of what happened. I’m not a big fan of them trying to say that this is not a feeder tour if 10 of the top guys from the money list are going to be elevated onto the PGA Tour because apparently in any sport, if you play one division and it elevates you to the next, that’s technically called a feeder tour, a feeder club, whatever you want to call it.”
In a press conference at Wentworth this week, DP World Tour chief Keith Pelley categorically denied the tour being called a feeder and the notion of it becoming the fifth-best tour in the world.
“I’ll ask you: Is this week a tournament that is on a feeder tour?” Pelley said. “A tournament that has sold-out crowds, television coverage around the world in 150 countries,…
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