The Royal&Ancient isn’t ruling out the possibility of accepting funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), as stock markets continue to climb — to the point, in fact, where its chairman and chief operating officer, Martin Slumbers, believes golf will need to re-evaluate its business model.
The R&A leads the British Open, where the total prize pool this year will be $16.5 million, nearly double a decade ago. The British Open still has the smallest prize pool of the four major tournaments.
The PIF is already the main funder of the LIV circuit, which offers a prize pool of $25 million for each of its tournaments. The PGA Tour and the European Tour reached a tentative agreement with the PIF last month for a possible commercial merger.
According to a PGA Tour executive who participated in a US Senate hearing last week, the PIF is expected to pay more than $1 billion under the deal.
Will the R&A be next on the list?
“We are counting on many major commercial partners who allow us to hold this event,” Slumbers said on Wednesday. The world has changed since last year. Not just in golf. You see it in soccer. You see it in Formula 1. You see it in cricket. And I am certain that tennis will not be outdone. »
The PIF is involved in all these sports, having notably bought an 80 per cent stake in English Premier League club Newcastle United. Aramco, a Saudi state-owned oil company, is a global partner of F1 and the International Cricket Council. This company also finances, through sponsorship agreements, certain tournaments on the European women’s golf circuit.
“The world of sport has changed drastically over the past 12 months, and it is not an option for R&A or golf in general to ignore the societal changes that are taking place on the international stage,” continued Slumbers. We will consider, within our own parameters, all the options presented to us. »
Slumbers added Wednesday that golf’s oldest tournament isn’t interested in a new sponsorship deal that would change the name of the tournament — it will remain “British Open.”
The R&A, like all other organizations that run major golf tournaments, relies on many multinational corporations to support them financially.
His main concern, however, remains the total prize pool.
It was $7.8 million at Muirfield in 2013. A year ago, it reached $14 million. This year, the champion alone will pocket $3 million.
THE Daily Telegraph reported that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF manager who brokered the deal with the PGA, is expected to attend the British Open as a guest of a business partner of the event. Al-Rumayyan is a golf enthusiast.
Among the documents that were filed in the US Senate ahead of last week’s hearing on a possible merger between the PGA and the LIV Tour was the Saudis’ “wish list”. It included the proposal that Al-Rumayyan become a member of the R&A Golf Club.