PACIFIC PALISADES – The potential drama may have been on the course at Riviera Sunday, where 23-year-old Chilean Joaquin Niemann became the first wire-to-wire winner of what is now the Genesis Invitational since Charlie Sifford won it in 1969, when it was known as the L.A. Open.

But bigger golf news was happening elsewhere.

The Super Golf League – or Saudi Golf League, or Greg Norman’s Folly, or whatever you want to call the renegade monument to appearance fees that Phil Mickelson has been trying to prop up – now seems to be on life support.

Two prime potential candidates to join the breakaway circuit, which was to be essentially funded by the Saudi Arabian government in its attempt to sportswash its human rights record, were the latest to say no Sunday.

Dustin Johnson, the No. 6 player in the world, reaffirmed his commitment to the tour that made him rich and famous in a statement tweeted by the PGA Tour’s communications account: “I feel it is now time to put such speculation to rest. I am fully committed to the PGA Tour. I am grateful for the opportunity to play on the best tour in the world and for all it has provided me and my family.”

Statement on behalf of Dustin Johnson pic.twitter.com/731B4SmyQv

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 20, 2022

Shortly thereafter, Bryson DeChambeau sent his regrets as well via Twitter. The tour’s lightning rod, who skipped Riviera while recovering from injuries to his hand and hip, had been offered as much as $130 million to switch tours according to British media outlets, and some speculation used his absence from Tour events to suggest he was considering the Saudi project.

His response to it all, posted right around noon Pacific Time Sunday: “While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I.”

pic.twitter.com/cRAAL6YrPB

— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) February 20, 2022

And that should be that. Brooks Koepka apparently will stay put, too, so their WWE-style feud should remain active.

Many of the stars assembled at Riviera the past week, in a field that included nine of the world’s top 11 and 16 of the top 25, indicated they had no interest in switching. As of now, the top 12 in the World Golf Rankings all have recommitted to the PGA Tour.

World No. 1 Jon Rahm said earlier in the week he figured the best legacy he could leave would be through the PGA Tour, adding: “I grew up watching many great players play great events such as this one and there’s history and legacy to those things. That’s something that has a lot of appeal to me.”

No. 2 Collin Morikawa, La Cañada Flintridge’s own and Sunday’s runner-up to Niemann, noted that the top players are staying put “and that’s where I belong.” And No. 8 Justin Thomas added, “If they’re that passionate, go ahead. I don’t think anybody’s stopping them.”

No. 5 Rory McIlroy said after Sunday’s round he wasn’t surprised by Johnson and DeChambeau opting to stay where they are.

“Like I’ve always reiterated, I feel like this is the best place to play golf if you’re an elite professional golfer,” he said. “Maybe I’m fortunate that I’ve been more privy to the inner workings of the tour (in his role on the tour’s Player Advisory Council) … I’m always very confident that the tour’s headed in the right direction.

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“I was really glad to see DJ and Bryson put out those statements this week. We all want to play against the best players in the world, and they’re certainly two of the best players in the world and it’s nice to know that they’re committed to playing here and committed to making this the best tour in the world.”

As for Mickelson?  Speaking to author Alan Shipnuck for a biography that will be released in May, he had acknowledged that the Saudi authorities are “scary (so-and-sos)” – only he used a term far stronger than “so-and-sos” – and have a “horrible record on human rights.” But he added: “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”

Mickelson also accused the tour, and by extension commissioner Jay Monahan, of “obnoxious greed” in a Golf Digest interview earlier this year. Keep in mind that between tournament purses, endorsements and other golf-related revenue, estimates are Mickelson has cleared somewhere close to $900 million in his career.

McIlroy’s reaction?

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down, obviously,” he said. “But I thought (the comments) were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant. Lots of words to describe that interaction he had with Shipnuck. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

Is there a reason that it all came to a head this week? Hard to tell. McIlroy noted that “they’ve created rumors and tried to play one guy off another, and said one thing to one manager and said a different thing to another manager, and just sort of created this chaos and confusion around that group, and everyone’s questioning everyone else’s motives … I think it’s nice now that we can all sit down and say, ‘Look, we’re all on the same page here.’ “

“I mean, Greg Norman would have to tee it up to fill the field,” he added. “Who else is going to do it? I don’t think they could get 48 guys.”

So it sounds like full-time appearance-fee golf is about to go away before it ever arrived. It would be different had there been a serious possibility of defections among the top players, but at this point it seems more a province of guys like Mickelson and his peers, veterans whose best playing days are behind them.

And consider the viewpoint of Sunday’s winner when asked about the breakaway tour.

“Winning a PGA Tour event, getting a trophy, having Tiger (Woods) there, all the history behind it, there’s nothing that can compete with this,” Niemann said.

Tiger’s staying too, by the way. Case closed.

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