Yeah I mean everyone understands the Saudis have fuck you money, but it's still money and even to them $500M+ or whatever it's costing them to run a few golf tournaments won't continue if it's a total flop. $150M to DJ is a total panic move in the wake of the Phil meltdown combined with the complete rejection of the tour by actual stars like Rory and JT. Dustin Johnson is an actual star who just happens to be having an awful year, so he's a perfect target I guess - basically no chance to win the FedEx Cup. Remove him and the first tourney would be completely worthless to spectators - essentially Korn Ferry level.
Couple other things - multiple posts again saying things like the PGA Tour will lose a lawsuit because they're not allowed to dictate who plays where. That's not what they're doing. I don't understand why people keep arguing that. There are a million ways to tweek current policies to account for the LIV tour. It makes absolutely no difference that tour players are "independent contractors" as people keep saying. There have always been requirements for earning and maintaining a tour card that involved competing tours and tournaments. The goal is just to sue, delay, let the insane cash grab happen, and when the tour collapses everyone goes back to business as usual. Maybe someone out there involved thinks there's a long game here but I seriously doubt it. You think Greg Norman's going to working the LIV tour in 3 years?
Lastly, definitely seems like there's some misinformation out there about majors and tournament access. No, the Masters isn't run by the PGA Tour. Nor are the Opens or the PGA. But folks are seriously underestimating the influence of the PGA Tour. Phil for example - not allowed to play TPC regardless of what niceties were traded after the fact, and while Augusta went on the record to say they didn't "disinvite" Phil, they also said there needed to be a dialogue prior to any discussion about him playing. The USGA and the PGA Tour are extremely tightly coupled. Can the PGA Tour determine who plays in the US Open? No. Can they nullify ranking points from PGA events? Reduce exemptions to a bare minimum of past winners? Absolutely. The comment about "oh they'd just have to qualify" - even top 50 PGA guys do NOT want to have to go through qualifying for the US Open. And it's not like it'd be a shoe-in for them anyway. The ultimate open United States golf tournament is not going to side with Saudi Arabia over the PGA which drives a massive percentage of their revenue. If anything they'll work together to protect each other so we don't end up with The United States Open Liv Tour edition with a $250M first prize. As they should.