Dept. of Justice still looking at golf merger

First off, let me congratulate Wyndham Clark on winning the 2023 U.S. Open golf tournament Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club on Sunday for his first-ever major tournament win thanks to his final-round score of 70 to help him finish at 10-under par — an pocket a cool $3.6 million.

However, while the tournament had its thrills throughout the four-day run, it still was overshadowed by the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into the planned merging of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) and LIV Golf, which is funded by Saudi Arabia.

Ever since the announcement was made earlier this month about the merger, there seemingly has been more flack about the merger than praising it.

The major concern is about where the money came from to help fund the tour.

According to a report by Yahoo!, Saudi Arabia funded the tour. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been involved in multiple controversies, including human rights violations of his own people, the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the government’s alleged involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.

The ethics of players taking money from the country has been debated endlessly since players started defecting. Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have both been outspoken against the league, with the latter reportedly turning down between $700 and $800 million to join.

While PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan previously condemned LIV Golf and discouraged players from taking their money, the merger seems to be a sellout of sorts. As part of the agreement, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) will contribute a “significant financial investment, toward minority equity ownership of a new, collectively held, for-profit LLC.” The PIF will make a financial investment to become a premier corporate sponsor of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

As part of the merger, PGA and LIV mutually agreed to end all pending litigation between the parties.

LIV sued the PGA last year for allegedly engaging in monopolistic behavior by creating rules intended to stop golfers from playing in rival leagues. PGA sought subpoenas for a countersuit alleging that LIV illegally pushed players to break contracts with the PGA by offering exorbitant sums of money.

The case was expected to go to trial next May, but that obviously will not happen after the merger.

So, it looks like it’s full steam ahead, golf fans. You all are just going to have to learn to adapt to it.

• • • I know the Miami Heat and the Florida Panthers didn’t come through for the professional sports fans of the city, but now there is an individual — along with his team — who is helping Miami fans forget about the disappointments of the Heat and Panthers.

Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez is making a big push to hit .400 for a season, which hasn’t been done in Major League Baseball since Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame outfielder Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.

However, going into Thursday night’s home game against Pittsburgh at LoanDepot Park, Arraez is hitting .398. He had a 5-for-5 game Monday night in Miami’s 11-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Arraez’s search in hitting .400 this season just so happens to be coinciding with the Marlins’ hot streak, in which they ended Wednesday night with a record of 42-33 and entered Thursday night’s game in second place in the National League East Division, six games behind divisionleading Atlanta. Prior to the last two home losses to Toronto, Miami had won five straight Thanks to Arraez and the Marlins, the City of Miami has seemingly gotten over the disappointments left by the Heat losing the National Basketball Association Finals to the Denver Nuggets and the Panthers losing the Stanley Cup Finals to the (Las) Vegas Golden Knights.

• • • Thursday night was the 2023 National Basketball Association Draft. While there is the chance for at least five Arkansas Razorbacks to get drafted, all eyes will be on the first pick, which belongs to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are projected to select 7-4 big man Victor Wembanyama, who has been playing with the Metropolitans 92 team of the LNB Pro A League.

Seeing a story on the big man on Thursday morning’s airing of “CBS Mornings,” co-host Nate Burleson was comparing him to previous Spurs’ big men who have played — namely Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who both just so happen to be Basketball Hall of Famers.

However, the segment also went on to mention that Wembanyama isn’t your typical big man due to being more speedy than most typical big men.

Should he have gotten selected by the Spurs, it will mean that there’s the potential for three big men donning their uniforms got to be coached by a soon-tobe Hall of Fame coach in Gregg Popovich.

• • • Seeley is the new sports editor of Your TIMES. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433 or by e-mail at davids@ cookson.news.