LIV Golf hits back at PGA Tour’s huge increase in prize money

LIV Golf have issued a sharp response to the PGA Tour’s decision to increase their prize money, by insisting their rebel tour is ‘clearly the best thing’ to happen to golf.

The PGA Tour have been struck by a series of defections, with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson Dechambeau and Dustin Johnson heading over to the new Saudi-backed breakaway series.

But now they have responded, with commissioner Jay Monahan sending a letter out to his players on Wednesday morning revealing a huge raft of changes, including big pay increases and the opportunity to earn a lifetime membership with 20 wins.

It took a matter of hours for LIV Golf to respond, as they shared a 17-word statement slamming their rivals. 

It read: ‘LIV Golf is clearly the best thing that’s ever happened to help the careers of professional golfers.’

Greg Norman took to Instagram to claim PGA rival Jay Monahan had ‘copied his homework’

At the same time, Greg Norman – the face of LIV Golf – took to Instagram to share a meme mocking his rival commissioner Monahan.

Alongside a picture of the pair is a quote reading: ‘Jay: “Hey, can I copy your homework?”‘, followed by the response: ‘Greg: “Sure, just make it look different so it doesn’t look to [sic] obvious.”‘

Norman had captioned the image ‘A day late and a dollar short,’ appearing to insinuate that the PGA Tour were simply following their lead by offering mega-bucks to its players, albeit smaller amounts than LIV and a few weeks after. 

In the PGA Tour’s three-page letter sent out on Wednesday morning, it was revealed that there will now be a minimum salary of $500,000 for all players on the PGA Tour, as well as a new average purse of $20million to keep pace with LIV. 

In addition, stars will receive $5,000 for missing cuts at the tournaments, with never-before-seen amounts given out to players on the PGA Tour even if they’re not winning competitions.

A whole host of former PGA Tour pros have defected to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour

The likes of Rory McIlroy (left) and Tiger Woods (right) have led the fightback against LIV 

Monahan has also ruled out LIV Golf rebels returning to the circuit if they are enticed by the huge increase to the prize pot he announced. 

Asked if LIV Golf players who were impressed by the changes and wanted to return would have their suspensions lifted, Monahan said: ‘No. 

‘They’ve joined the LIV Golf Series and they’ve made that commitment. For most of them, they’ve made multi-year commitments. 

‘As I’ve been clear throughout, every player has a choice, and I respect their choice, but they’ve made it. We’ve made ours. We’re going to continue to focus on the things that we control and get stronger and stronger.’

‘As it relates to any of the scenarios for LIV players and coming back, I’ll remind you that we’re in a lawsuit,’ he added. ‘They’ve sued us. I think talking about any hypotheticals at this point doesn’t make a lot of sense.’ 

Monahan told LIV Golf rebels they will not be able to return to the PGA Tour after quitting

McIlroy was in the room to listen to the PGA Tour commissioner’s press conference today