BOMBSHELL PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf to merge

June 7, 2023

Like when Ben Curtis won The Open Championship or the day Rodger Davis shelved the plus-fours, no one saw this coming.

The PGA Tour dropped a bombshell one world this morning by announcing that they will merge with both the DP World (European) Tour and most surprisingly, LIV Golf to become one, all-encompassing, golf entity.

The PGA Tour released a statement and it shocked everyone, even many on the PGA Tour:

The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and 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.

Notably, today’s announcement will be followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties. Further, the three organizations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA TOUR or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission, consistent with each Tour’s policies.

Some have suggested it was always going to happen given the potential court cases coming up, and the amount of money the Saudi Arabian government has at hand, and some have suggested it’s some pressure from Jeff Bezos to buy a LIV Golf team franchise!

The PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is already being labelled as a hypocrite for his previous stance on not yielding to a golf league directly funded by the Saudi Arabian regime. Reports suggest many players used the word hypocrite when told of the merger yesterday and it’s something he has already acknowledged.

Adam Schupak reported for Golfweek:

“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite. Anytime I said anything, I said it with the information that I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players. I accept those criticisms. But circumstances do change. I think that in looking at the big picture and looking at it this way, that’s what got us to this point.”

Monahan shared more on the timeline, noting that secret conversations had been conducted over the last seven weeks. There were four in-person meetings and a number of video calls and phone conversations.

It’s hard not to think this is all going to get uglier – not even Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy knew of the decision according to Mark Schlabach at ESPN:

Many players found out via social media on Tuesday before ever seeing a memo that was sent by Monahan.

PGA Tour stars such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and others weren’t told about the pending deal in advance, and neither were members of the Player Advisory Council.

A source told ESPN that Monahan didn’t reveal many details of the plan with PIF and the DP World Tour and stood in the front of the room “and took everything the players gave him.”

Many PGA Tour players found out on Twitter:

I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour!

— Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) June 6, 2023

And everyone thought yesterday was the longest day in golf

— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023

Eamon Lynch, perhaps LIV golf’s biggest critic because of where the money comes from, was at his usual scathing best:

Since its creation, LIV Golf has largely been viewed through four lenses, with some overlap. The most traditional and least significant prisms are whether its competition has integrity and if it is consistent with the values golf imagines itself to uphold. For me, and many others, the key lens is that of morality: should the sport allow itself to be leveraged for reputational repair by autocratic human rights abusers? But for plenty of folks – frankly, most everyone inside the sport – the only perspective that matters is commercial: is LIV good or bad for business? From that myopic viewpoint, if someone is offering them money, how can that not be good for business? No need for a little dismemberment to impede commerce.

More reading, cause this is a huge shock: