'Coup d'état, really?!' PGA Tour stars defend Patrick Cantlay!
Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler have formed a united front amid the PGA Tour's deal with LIV Golf's Saudi backers.
Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott and Will Zalatoris have formed a united front, criticising a recent column which suggested Patrick Cantlay was leading a 'coup d'état' against the PGA Tour's 'framework agreement' with LIV Golf's Saudi backers.
The report in question was from Golfweek's Eamon Lynch which suggested Cantlay was unhappy with the proposal that was announced a week before the 2023 U.S. Open.
Per Lynch's suggestion, Cantlay is said to have been upset with the deal because it would lose the players leverage.
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Cantlay - like many of the elite players in men's professional golf - was linked with a move to LIV before and during the rival league's first campaign.
That being said, he wasn't as outspoken as the likes of Rory McIlroy. Lynch claimed Cantlay was romancing LIV behind the scenes, 'all while maintaining a gymnast's balance as a fence-sitter in public'.
This accusation, according to Thomas, Fowler, Scott and Zalatoris is complete hogwash.
| According to SI, Jay Monahan is expected to return to his role as PGA Tour commissioner.
Monahan stepped away from day-to-day duties two days before the U.S. Open began over a 'minor health issue'. pic.twitter.com/M0GmJBSRDa— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) June 29, 2023
Fowler was the first to post his thoughts on Instagram after he played his first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.
The American was going well but ended his round with two bogeys, blaming his shaky finish on his desperation to go to the bathroom.
He later criticised Lynch for the 'faceless speculation'.
Fowler posted:
See below:
Lynch has not, at the time of writing, responded to the stinging criticism calling him out.
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He did, however, discuss the agreement at length once again on Golf Channel. Lynch described how he couldn't see what the PGA Tour had gained from their agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
Watch:
One largely overlooked item in the Tour’s framework agreement with the Saudis is the non-disparagement clause. One problem: it would seem to refer not to the Public Investment Fund but to the kingdom itself. pic.twitter.com/66GC5YTc5W
— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) June 27, 2023
What did Lynch say about Cantlay?
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