Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan described the Saudi-funded league that has signed up Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau as a "series of exhibition matches" that spends billions of dollars on players without getting a return on its investment.
Monahan also said players paid an exorbitant amount of money would "have to be living under a rock" to not know they would be criticized for the source of the money. LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
"I would ask any player that has left, or any player that would ever consider leaving, `Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?"' Monahan said from Toronto on the CBS telecast of the RBC Canadian Open.
They were Monahan's first public comments since Thursday, when Greg Norman's LIV Golf series began and Monahan suspended all PGA Tour members who played at Centurion Golf Club outside London.
The LIV Golf Series has eight tournaments this year -- five in the United States -- with $25 million in prize money for each one, 54-hole events with no cut and 48-man fields. Charl Schwartzel won the first one Saturday and earned $4.75 million.
More than prize money, some players received enormous signing fees. The Daily Telegraph reported Johnson received $150 million, while Mickelson did not deny a report that he was paid $200 million for the startup venture. It was not clear for now many years they are committed.
In recent days, Norman announced DeChambeau and Patrick Reed have signed up and are expected to play the first U.S. event in Oregon at the end of the month. None of the top 10 players in the world has expressed interest in the new league.
Monahan said he suspended the players for violating tournament regulations. They were denied releases to compete in the London event and chose to play anyway. Players typically get three releases for overseas events, and two dozen got them for the Saudi International.
Monahan said that was a single event associated with a recognized tour (Asian Tour), compared with a series of events that poses a direct challenge to the PGA Tour by playing in the U.S.
"It's my job to protect, defend and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans, and that's exactly what I did," Monahan said.
Norman and some players in the LIV Golf event have talked about being free agents, able to play wherever they wanted, and have positioned the new league as adding to world golf instead of competing with the PGA Tour.
Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell were among those who resigned their PGA Tour membership. Mickelson, already at The Country Club on Sunday to start preparing for the U.S. Open, has said he plans to keep the lifetime membership he earned with 45 wins and six majors.
Asked why players couldn't play both tours, Monahan answered with a question of his own.
"Why do they need us so badly?" he said. "Those players have chosen to sign multiyear, lucrative contracts to play in a series of exhibition matches against the same players over and over again. You look at that versus what we see here today."
The Canadian Open featured Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau contending for the title, and Justin Rose challenging to shoot 59 or lower until he had to settle for a 60.
"You've got true, pure competition, the best players in the world here at the RBC Canadian Open, with millions of fans watching. And in this game, it's true and pure competition that creates the profiles and presences of the world's greatest players. And that's why they need us. That's what we do," Monahan said.
"But we're not going to allow players to free ride off of our loyal members."
Still unclear was how the situation proceeds. The USGA has said it will not deny a player who earned his spot in the field at the U.S. Open, and the R&A is likely to honor the "open" nature of the British Open next month at St. Andrews.
Lawsuits are likely if PGA Tour players try to enter an event after being suspended for signing up and playing with LIV Golf. Norman has said LIV Golf would support its players.
Monahan did not say if there was a way back for players who joined Norman's league, nor how it affects players who had never been a PGA Tour member.
Monahan was particularly biting on the money coming from the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of "sports washing" for using such a tour to take attention away from its history of human rights abuses.
He was asked how big of an issue the source of funding was.
"It's not an issue for me, because I don't work for the Saudi Arabian government," Monahan said, a veiled dig at the notion of being a free agent. "But it probably is an issue for players who chose to go and take that money. I think you have to ask yourself a question: Why.
"Why is this group spending so much money -- billions of dollars -- recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of a return?" he said. "At the same time, there's been a lot of questions, a lot of comments, about the growth of the game. And I ask, `How is this good for the game?"'
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.