Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson become the latest players to declare they’ll stay with PGA Tour

Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson committed to the PGA Tour yesterday in a bitter double blow to the Saudis that surely ends any threat for now of a credible rival circuit.

Certainly that was Rory McIlroy’s trenchant view after the two Americans that the Saudis wanted to be the leading stars of their proposed Super Golf League joined every other leading player in turning them down.

‘I’d say the whole project is now dead in the water,’ said the Northern Irishman. ‘I mean, who’s left who could go? Who would want to go now? I don’t think they could get 48 guys to fill a field.’

Northern Irish star Rory McIlroy said that the breakaway league is ‘dead in the water’

Johnson put out a statement through the PGA Tour declaring his loyalty for the status quo. That was followed by a rather more begrudging declaration from DeChambeau through his Twitter account.

‘While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I,’ said DeChambeau.

McIlroy blasted Phil Mickelson, the other high-profile would-be renegade who self-destructed in spectacular fashion, saying: ‘I don’t like to kick a man when he’s down but his comments last week were naive, selfish, egotistical and ignorant, and I hope he’s sitting at home rethinking where he goes from here.’

It completed a remarkable few days for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, and hopefully we can now get back to concentrating on golf in the build-up to the Masters.

To that end, three years on from his miracle win, is Tiger Woods ready to leave Augusta in awe once more simply by playing in the 2022 edition?

There was much to encourage his millions of admirers in an American television interview on Saturday with presenters Jim Nantz and Sir Nick Faldo, in which he tantalisingly left the door open for an April return.

Legendary golfer Tiger Woods has left the door open on a return to the Masters

Who knows if that’s a distinct possibility but the fact Woods didn’t mock the proposition might well count for something. In some quarters, there’s certainly a growing belief that he’s nearer to a return than he is letting on. It’s certainly looking promising for the 150th Open at St Andrews in July.

Meanwhile, at the Genesis Invitational, Tiger in his guise as tournament host watched exciting Chilean Joaquin Niemann, 23, complete a wire-to-wire triumph with a 71 to hold off a charging Collin Morikawa by two strokes.

As for McIlroy, he shot 68 to complete four rounds in the sixties to sneak into the top ten. ‘Game’s good, but you don’t want to ask me about that, do you?’ he said smiling, summing up a fraught but ultimately immensely satisfying week.