PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan says LIV Golf Invitational Series is an 'irrational threat' to the game

If there was any doubt about the venom brewing between the PGA Tour and the rival LIV Golf Invitational Series, the latest salvo was delivered by the breakaway circuit on Wednesday.

Just as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was unveiling increased purses, a revamped schedule and dramatic changes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs, LIV Golf sent a news release confirming that four-time major champion Brooks Koepka had defected to the new circuit being financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

«As I also said to the players [on Tuesday], let me be clear: I am not naive,» Monahan said during a news conference at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. «If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can't compete. The PGA Tour, an American institution, can't compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf.

»We welcome good, healthy competition. The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that. It's an irrational threat, one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game."

Koepka, an eight-time winner on tour who has earned nearly $38 million during his career, is the latest PGA Tour member to be lured away by a signing bonus of more than $100 million, sources told ESPN. He joins other major winners Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed among the defectors.

«Currently, no one organization owns or dominates the game of golf,» Monahan said. «Instead, the various entities, be it Augusta National or the USGA or the LPGA or the PGA Tour or the PGA of America, work together to meet our own respective priorities, but with the best interests of the game overall at heart.

»But when someone attempts to