Asian Tour giving PGA Tour and DP World Tour a taste of their own medicine, says Westwood
- The infusion of US$300 million in the Asian Tour and its determination to go global has changed the relationship
- Lee Westwood likened the stand off to a game of poker, with the Asian Tour the new player that had a bigger stack of chips
Speaking on Wednesday, ahead of the PIF Saudi International, the Englishman said he thought the DP World Tour and PGA Tour saw their Asian counterpart’s new enterprise, which includes a stop in London, “as a threat” and compared the ongoing animosity to “a game of poker”.
Westwood is one of several high-profile golfers playing in the Asian Tour’s 2022 season opener in King Abdullah Economic City this week, alongside the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mikelson.
An infusion of some US$300 million from LIV Golf Investments, which is headed by former world No 1 Greg Norman, and backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has given the Asian Tour financial clout it did not have before.
And while the increased prize fund of US$5 million this week has played its part, some hefty appearance fees of up to US$15.5 million have not done the tournament at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club any harm in attracting the world’s best.
However, those players had to get releases from the tours in Europe and the US just to play, another example of the uneasy relationship that exists between the three.
“It’s kind of like a game of poker really, where the European Tour and the PGA Tour have had the biggest hand, and now there’s somebody else come to the table with more chips, so everybody is on their guard and very defensive and are clearly seeing the Asian Tour as a threat,” Westwood said.
