No one called "fore" on this one.
After a few years of verbal sparring, court filings and bad blood, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf took a dramatic left turn in June 2023, and are now partners in the golf world. The stunning turn of events came after several months of meetings between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi Public Investment Fund governor, which led to a partnership between the PIF and the PGA Tour.
Following the news, Monahan celebrated the move as something of a victory for the world of golf, for its players and fans alike:
"After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love," Monahan said in a statement. "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."
MORE: Who is playing LIV Golf in 2023? Updated list of PGA Tour defectors
Still, there are questions as to why, how and when this got done. Here's what the merger means for golf's superpowers, it's super players and everything in between.
Why is PGA Tour merging with LIV Golf?
In a statement released by the PGA Tour on June 6, commissioner Jay Monahan cited the benefits of wanting to merge golf entities — the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour (the European Tour) — in efforts to grow the game and to "drive the game's future."
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. 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.
Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan added:
Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world. We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide. We are committed to unifying, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and offering the highest-quality product to the many millions of long-time fans globally, while cultivating new fans.
There is no question that the LIV model has been positively transformative for golf. We believe there are opportunities for the game to evolve while also maintaining its storied history and tradition. This partnership represents the best opportunity to extend and increase the impact of golf for all. We look forward to collaborating with Jay and Keith to bring the best version of the game to communities around the world.
More than just window-dressing pleasantries, though, there are plenty of business ramifications involved, largely beneficial for all parties. The PGA Tour will retain its tax-exempt status, which was in jeopardy because of an antitrust lawsuit filed by LIV Golf lawyers in November. While the lawsuit took several blows, including delays and being struck down in federal court, it was still alive as of time of the merger.
As part of the merger, all pending litigation, including that antitrust lawsuit, has been dropped, which is a win for the PGA Tour (and its 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status).
To that end, it's less of a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf and more of a partnership between the PGA Tour, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which, in turn, puts the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in the same room, at the same table, under the same umbrella, ending the golf war.
LIV Golf ran its first tournaments in 2022, drawing some of the world's best and most notable players from the PGA Tour, including Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. Those players signed contracts, some in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to join the tour.
LIV had been struggling to draw viewers to its product, with the CW television experiment in the U.S. largely failing to generate much viewership, according to reports.
MORE: LIV Golf ratings, explained — Why TV viewership is a massive mystery
What does this mean for the PGA Tour?
There are three separate facets to the merger: The business, the game and the government.
First, the business. While details surrounding how the merger will work and how all three merged products — the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour — will differentiate remain to be clarified, there is a new, commercial umbrella entity that will operate and oversee all three. Monahan will be CEO of the new entity, while Al-Rumayyan will also sit on the board.
The new entity (which remains to be named) will operate and oversee the entire operation. Think of it as a new parent company. That's where the PIF's money comes in.
The PIF will be funding the new entity, which, in turn, means the PGA Tour. That new pipeline of money — of which there is a reported $640 billion worth — should be a windfall for the PGA Tour when it comes to purses, money for the players and other such financial implications.
While it remains to be seen how the financials for the PGA Tour will change, and how the PIF will sponsor events and more, it's clear that the PGA Tour will get some kind of new cashflow from the PIF.
While the PIF might be main "corporate" sponsor of the PGA Tour now, things may not change as much on the course. In the aftermath of the merger, Monahan reaffirmed that the PGA Tour will "retain administrative oversight" in the PGA Tour, including sanctioning events and the administration of policies and rules. Monahan remains as commissioner of the Tour.
🚨🚨🚨 Breaking.
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) June 6, 2023
The letter sent to players just now from Jay. Holy cow. pic.twitter.com/12A4X8nCTX
For now, there have been no reports on whether or not the PGA Tour will look different in the coming years, whether that means different tournaments, sponsors, contracts and more.
What is noteworthy in the Monahan-penned letter is that the PGA commish posits this idea of incorporating team golf into the fold, which is a staple of LIV Golf's format. Currently, there is no official word on what LIV Golf may be beyond 2023 — and if it will exist at all.
According to LIV golfer Dustin Johnson, the circuit will be around in 2024, but there's no certainty beyond that.
"Everything I've heard, they're still working on a full schedule for next year," Johnson said. "The rest of this year and 2024 is going to be the same as far as I know. After that, you know as much as I do."
Also of note, players who were suspended from the PGA Tour and had their cards revoked will have an opportunity to regain them at some point.
On the government side of the deal, things may get a bit tied up in red tape. A U.S. Senate subcommittee has launched an investigation into the potential merger, saying that the PGA Tour reversal of tone raises some red flags.
"While few details about the agreement are known, PIF's role as an arm of the Saudi government and PGA Tour's sudden and drastic reversal of position concerning LIV Golf raise serious questions regarding the reasons for and terms behind the announced agreement," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a letter to both Jay Monahan and LIV Golf executives.
Today I am opening a probe into the PGA Tour merger as Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) June 12, 2023
I am demanding information from PGA & LIV on how they came to this agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund & how this new entity will be structured & operated. pic.twitter.com/zR5AhwU3PS
Additionally, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland and assistant AG Jonathan Kanter to look further into the potential merger, saying that the deal may "monopolize" golf. They also cite the Saudi regime's efforts to "sportswash" their image.
.@PGATOUR's deal to monopolize U.S. golf with @livgolf_league could hurt competition and help the Saudi regime to "sportswash" its egregious human rights record. @RonWyden and I are calling on @TheJusticeDept to scrutinize this deal under antitrust law.https://t.co/IhjTNu0mDy
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 14, 2023
Be it that the DP World Tour operates in the U.K., there may be some overseas governments that get involved, as well. So, while everyone from the PGA Tour to DP World Tour to PIF to LIV Golf seem to be on board, that doesn't mean that the governments are just yet.
MORE: PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger winners and losers — Who made out well in deal?
Who runs LIV Golf?
Things get a little weird when it comes to LIV Golf's hierarchy at the moment.
Originally founded and funded by the PIF, with the PIF and Yasir Al-Rumayyan taking a financial stake in the PGA Tour (and being placed on the PGA Tour's policy board), it would seem that he sits in the throne for all of golf.
That said, Jay Monahan's new title of CEO of the new, merged entity means that he is technically the boss of LIV Golf and all under the umbrella. That leaves Greg Norman, the boisterous face and voice of LIV Golf since its inception, dangling in the wind somewhere.
Curiously, the LIV Golf CEO was not mentioned in the initial press release, with Al-Rumayyan admitting he informed Norman of the merger just minutes before a scheduled appearance on CNBC.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan on whether Greg Norman knows about this: "I made the call just before this [interview on CNBC]. 👀
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 6, 2023
To that end, the future of LIV Golf seems to be unknown at best and tenuous at worst. Documents sent to the U.S. Government regarding the merger indicate that the future of LIV is in the hands of the PGA Tour and Monahan.
Monahan said that he doesn't see a situation where LIV Golf can continue to exist in its current iteration in 2024 and beyond, which may either mean sweeping changes or the cancelation of the tour in the future.
"I can’t see that scenario, but I haven’t gotten the full evaluation, the full empirical evaluation of LIV that I’m going to do to be able to comment on that," Monahan said previously. "But I don’t see that scenario, no. To me, any scenarios that you’re thinking about that bridge between the PGA Tour and LIV would be longer term in nature."
Though questions remain over what LIV Golf will be, who will run it or even if it exists, one thing remains constant: Rory McIlroy still hates them.
