Harry Higgs: "Difficult to go about business as usual" at RBC Canadian Open
Harry Higgs broke down the "somber" energy following the bombshell PGA Tour news.
Harry Higgs described the "somber" mood following news of the PGA Tour's agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) - the financial backers of LIV Golf.
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour released a statement that with the DP World Tour, they would be combining their commercial businesses and rights with the golf-related commercial businesses and rights of the PIF.
The news came as a shock to many as for much of the past year the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have been caught up in legal battles with LIV Golf.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been outspokenly against LIV Golf and all that it stood for, which made his announcement Tuesday that much more surprising.
As more details emerged, it also became clear that players had been kept in the dark about this new agreement.
That includes Rory McIlroy who became something of an unofficial spokesperson for the PGA Tour as he stayed loyal to Monahan over the past year.
The Northern Irishman revealed on Wednesday during a press conference ahead of this week's tournament that he had only found out about the news Tuesday morning, shortly before it went public.
Higgs, 31, is also in Toronto this week for the Canadian Open, a week before the third major championship of the year.
Six players have withdrawn from the tournament since the bombshell news broke.
Higgs has decided to stay, but he said it just feels "weird."
“I wish I knew more synonyms, but I would say somber,” Harry Higgs said, per Golfweek's Adam Woodward, of the mood. “Not in like a death in the family somber, but it’s a little difficult to go about business as usual … Part of me doesn’t feel like I really should be here right now, not that I should leave the tournament, this just feels kind of weird.”
He added:
“Sports is business and it’s big business. It’s hard to turn somebody away when they want to invest in what you do," Higgs said. “There are certainly reasons why you could turn this investor away, many reasons, but eventually the dollar wins out.”
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