UNDATED (AP) — Jack Nicklaus says he met with a Saudi Arabian group as a courtesy and had “zero interest” in running a rival golf circuit now being led by Greg Norman.
Saying his allegiance is with the PGA, Nicklaus says he didn’t care what kind of money the Saudis would have thrown at him. Nicklaus was unusually brief, with three questions related to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invitational series that is set to start next week outside of London and has an eight-tournament schedule, five of them in the United States.
In other PGA developments:
— Dustin Johnson is joining the Saudi-funded golf league. Johnson was the biggest surprise when the LIV Golf Invitational released its field for next week’s inaugural tournament in England. Phil Mickelson is not on the list. That’s another surprise. It was Mickelson’s comments about the Saudis and the PGA Tour that led to many top players pledging their support to the PGA Tour in February. Johnson has had a change of heart and is risking his PGA Tour membership. The LIV Golf tournament offers $25 million in prize money. The winner gets $4 million.
