Less than a year after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that any potential truce with the rival Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit was “off the table,” a landmark merger between the two entities has been formed.
The PGA Tour released a statement Tuesday confirming that the Tour, Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the DP World reached an agreement with a goal to “unify the game of golf, on a global basis.”
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said in a press release.
“This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.”
He continued, “Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future.
The new agreement will merge the PIF’s golf-related businesses, which include LIV Golf, with that of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour into a “new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”
My simplistic understanding of this is that the Saudi’s pay the players to play their tournaments. The players also make money from sponsors and how they finish in the tournaments. In the PGA and European tours the players aren’t payed to show up but are still payed by their sponsors and how they finish in the tournament….
Capatalism will shake out which is a better deal…
The gorilla in the room is which governing body will rule over all. They are risking being like boxing with several different entities ruling over several different titles. They can’t split the baby….The PGA needs to be king and control all of the historic history of golf which came from Scotland not Riyadh…..When golf was founded the Saudi’s were milking camels and eating dung beetles….
That which is “off the table” gets slapped back ON the table pretty damn fast when the money looks good.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/06/06/prescient-trump-was-right-again-liv-golf-and-pga-announce-deal-to-merge/
I never understood the PGA’s initial stance anyway. AFL vs. NFL…fond memories.
Who cares ALL sports is a distraction.
@willy. The Saudis did contribute to the founding of golf. The sand trap?
PGA can’t pass up opportunity for more money.
@ Txn4Evr at 3:16 pm,
“Bread and circuses” Gotta have our distractions! Mine are birds and rabbits.
FJB
Brooks Koepka = Joe Namath