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Padraig Harrington has come out to defend the PGA Tour as it continues to face criticism for secrecy over its deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Harrington claimed that the American circuit “has never been more transparent than it is now." The three-time Major champion also criticised the players for accusing the tour of keeping them in the dark. According to Harrington, the complaining players have “extremely high expectations” regarding the pace and quality of the information passed on to them.
The 52-year-old veteran’s comments came after a group of 20 players enlisted legal help to "demand" greater transparency from the PGA Tour. Players raised concerns over the officials’ secretive behavior over the potential investment proposals.
Replying to a Golf Digest tweet, Padraig Harrington wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):
"Interesting times. I can tell you the @PGATOUR has never been more transparent than it is now. I’m sure way more so than other corporations. Players have extremely high expectations of the timing and the detail of the information they should receive.
"The more transparency in a democratic society the more corruption is labeled at it (think American politics) while the less transparency in a society the less corruption is seen."
It is noteworthy that the framework agreement announcement, made by Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, had several stars of the US-based Tour up in arms. Jon Rahm, who recently defected to LIV Golf, was among the golfers who sounded off on the decision.
Padraig Harrington says the PGA Tour players are in regular contact with CEO Jay Monahan
Notably, the legal action taken by the 20 named golfers arrived days after an anonymous group of Tour players requested a "special meeting to address issues" prevailing in the PGA Tour. The issues reportedly include the Tour's leadership.
Despite this, Harrington claims that the players are in regular contact with PGA CEO Jay Monahan and such action was unnecessary.
Continuing on his tweet, he wrote:
"Most player meetings are now mandatory, voting is simple and online. This was done as, historically, players didn’t turn up or vote. We now have access to player representatives every week. Access to our CEO and his number two many weeks of the year. Imagine getting that access in a regular corporation.”
The former World No. 3 further stated that the players were receiving “timely updates by email.” He claimed that the information about the June 6 framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF couldn’t have been conveyed to the players “any sooner.” Tour members received a memo on the same on June 7.
The PGA first revealed its plan to build on the framework agreement with the PIF in November. It is pertinent to note that the Tour is also set to welcome offers from several possible third-party investors. However, the golfers on the circuit seem less informed of the direction it's headed in.
