(Reuters) – Lee Westwood said he would find it hard to turn down an invite to the proposed Super Golf League (SGL) though he can understand why there has been a negative reaction to it from other players and the PGA Tour.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph this month detailed a renewed Saudi Arabian-led plan to create a breakaway rival circuit, with players offered between $30 million-$100 million to take part.
The U.S. PGA Tour has threatened members with instant suspension and a lifetime ban if they join the breakaway, while four-times major champion Rory McIlroy said the SGL was nothing more than a “money grab”.
Westwood, however, said that at the point he was at in his career he would tempted to join.
“I think there’s pluses and minuses for everything,” he told reporters.
“I think they’ve obviously got a lot of money, they’ve come out and sent a few shockwaves about and people feel threatened,” Westwood told reporters before the PGA Championship.
“The people that feel threatened are trying to combat it.
“For me at nearly 50 it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? If somebody stood here and offered me 50 million quid to play golf when I’m 48, it’s a no-brainer.”
Asked how much of a deterrent a ban from the Tour would be for players interested in signing up, Westwood said: “That’s something you have to take into account.
“When all these things come along it’s a balancing act, isn’t it? You’ve got to throw the balls in the air and juggle them for a while and see what comes up.
“You have to get all the facts together, first of all. I can see it from both sides, but haven’t really gone into depth in it.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
