The three tours have announced that LIV players can re-apply for membership of the PGA and DP World Tour at the end of the 2023 season; all litigation between the three tours has also been ended
Wednesday 7 June 2023 13:50, UK
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf have stunned the sporting world by announcing they are merging to form "a new collectively owned" entity.
The shock announcement comes after a year of unprecedented disruption in the men's professional game following the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.
The new entity has not been named yet but the deal signals a new era of cooperation "to unify the game of golf, on a global basis". However, on Wednesday Bloomberg News reported the US Justice Department would review the deal, citing antitrust concerns.
It has also been announced:
Phil Mickelson, who became a de-facto spokesperson for the LIV Tour, tweeted: "Awesome news".
Some PGA Tour players, including two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, appeared to suggest that they discovered the news via social media at the point it broke.
Morikawa tweeted: "I love finding out morning news on Twitter."
The move was announced to players in a letter from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on Tuesday.
It read: "Today is a momentous day for your organization and the game of golf as a whole.
"The PGA Tour - your Tour - is leading the formation of a new commercial entity to unify golf, one that sees the end of the disruption and distraction that has divided the men's professional game for the better part of three years."
The LIV Golf circuit - which features 54-hole events across three days, with no cuts, instead of the traditional 72-hole format - launched in 2022 and has lured big-name players away from the rival circuits with staggering sums of prize money for every golfer.
This new entity was bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - owners of Newcastle United - and critics accused it of being a vehicle for the country to attempt to improve its reputation in the face of criticism of its human rights record.
Former world No 1 Dustin Johnson and Ryder Cup legends Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood were among the most notable names to commit initially, with Phil Mickelson added to that list soon after along with other high-profile names like recent PGA champion Brooks Koepka and last year's Open winner Cameron Smith.
Animosity grew between the factions, with Mickelson often speaking as the de facto player leader for LIV and directing accusations of collusion at the PGA Tour and other governing bodies. On the other side, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy was often at the forefront defending the PGA Tour and criticising LIV.
The decision to merge comes less than two weeks before the third major championship of the men's golf season, the US Open. For parts of 2022 and 2023, the majors were the only times that LIV Golf players were included in the same field as PGA and DP World Tour players.
PGA Tour commissioner Monahan, who had previously ruled out an agreement with LIV, said: "After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love.
"This transformational partnership recognises 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 organisation that will benefit golf's players, commercial and charitable partners and fans."
Keith Pelley, DP World Tour chief executive, added the deal "marks the end of the division in our game and the start of a new chapter in its evolution".
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said: "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."
Monahan met with players at the Canadian Open on Tuesday evening and one player who was part of that meeting revealed many were calling for the PGA commissioner to resign.
Tour Advisory Council member Johnson Wagner said: "It was contentious, there were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour and even got a couple of standing ovations.
"I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted commissioner Monahan from last year when he said as long as I'm commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again. It just seems like a lot of backtracking.
"I think as we step away from this and see it unfold in the coming weeks I think we will get more clarity. There was a lot of anger in that room from players."
Wagner also said Monahan had not revealed how players who had joined LIV would be reintegrated back onto the PGA Tour.
Wagner said: "He didn't specifically answer a lot of questions about what the path would be like for LIV players coming in in the season of 2024. He kind of left it up to his discretion and going to go by the PGA Tour rules and regulations that are set in place so a lot of players didn't like that.
"As far as how Jay handled it, I would say he didn't directly answer a ton of questions but he kept his calm and his cool."
Speaking to the media on Tuesday evening, Monahan explained why his position on receiving money from Saudi Arabia had changed and admitted the players and the public would label him as a "hypocrite" for his about turn.
"We've done everything we can within our control to improve and grow the PGA Tour, and they have launched LIV; they've proceeded with LIV; they've made progress with LIV," he said.
"But ultimately it was looking at the broader picture and saying that I don't think it's right or sustainable to have this tension in our sport, and to be able to organise and orient this in a way where, again, we're in a control position, we have an investor, a great and world-class investor, and I recognise everything that I've said in the past and in my prior positions.
"I recognise 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 also said he believes those players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour in the face of LIV had made the correct decision to do so.
He said: "You know, it probably didn't seem this way to them, but as I looked to our players, those players that have been loyal to the PGA Tour, I'm confident that the move that they made was the right decision. They've helped rearchitect the future of the PGA Tour. They've moved us to a more pro-competitive model.
"We have significantly invested in our business in '23. We're going to do so in '24. As we finalise this process, I think any player that has stayed is going to realise that the money that they're going to make, the strength of this platform, all the things that we talk about are going to put them in a really strong position. They're going to win. They're going to continue to grow, and we're in a control position on their behalf as we move forward in this structure."
A key name absent from the press release announcing the merger was Greg Norman, LIV Golf's CEO and one of the lead people in the Saudi-backed Tour's creation.
He has been the target of a lot of criticism from those on the PGA Tour side and Al-Rumayyan told CBS he only informed Norman about the merger moments before making it public.
"I made a call just before this and of course he is a partner with us, and all the stakeholders that we have with us they had the call right before this interview," Al-Rumayyan said.
Sky Sports golf expert Dame Laura Davies said of that revelation: "It sounds like it's been a bit cloak and dagger - if Greg Norman didn't know about it then if I was Greg Norman then I would feel like one of the losers in this deal because you would have thought he would have been at the forefront."
Norman tweeted his reaction to the news late on Tuesday evening, saying: "A great day in global golf for players and fans alike. The journey continues!!"
A big question to come out of the announcement of the merger was how it might affect selection for this September's Ryder Cup teams in Rome.
DP World Tour chief executive Pelley explained to Sky Sports News the criteria for selection for the European team, saying: "There's only two criteria to be a Ryder Cup player - you have to be European and you have to be a DP World Tour member. Those are the criteria.
"If you're not a DP World Tour member, you can't play in the Ryder Cup."
European stalwarts Garcia, Poulter, Westwood and Henrik Stenson all resigned from the DP World Tour in May following further sanctions on players who competed in LIV Golf events last year without permission.
Pelley said of the quartet: "They're not members. They would have to be reinstated. Maybe they will request reinstatement but we will have to see."
Sky Sports Golf's Andrew Coltart:
"I'm absolutely in shock. I think everybody has just been taken aback by this. Nobody saw it coming.
"I'm left scratching my head. It is [remarkable the players have found out at the same time] because you really would expect, being a player-run organisation, that the players would have an opportunity for some input in that.
"There is going to be an incredible amount of questions asked, but I'm not sure how many answers we'll get at this particular stage.
"There's no doubt it will leave a bit of a sour taste in some people's mouths. But I don't necessarily think this whole thing is a bad thing.
"Everybody has been crying out for the top players in the world to play together - and when those players have competed in the same event (The Masters and PGA Championship), it has added a bit of spice."
[On Rory McIlroy]: "He's given his heart and soul for the last two years, arguably to the detriment of his own golf game, for the support of the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, and I have to question whether he knew much of this.
"But there's absolutely no doubt that if he did, it would have been an incredible distraction, and he would have wondered what was all the time and effort for to get to this point."
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
