PGA and LIV Merger: PGA Tour and LIV Golf agree to merge
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the insurgent league funded by billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday they had agreed a merger, ending a bitter and costly battle for supremacy of professional men’s golf. that had divided the top players. , daily fans and corporate sponsors.
The merger represented the most stunning success yet of Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a player in global sport. But unlike the purchase of a Premier League football team or the sponsorship of events as diverse as boxing cards and Formula 1 car races, the multibillion-dollar game for control of golf seemed nothing less than an attempt to control an entire sport from the outset.
Now, by merging with the PGA Tour, it has gained a foothold guaranteeing an outsized influence in the future of the game. The governor of the Saudi state entity that funds LIV, the Public Investment Fund, will become chairman of the new golf organization, which was created so quickly it was announced before it even had a name.
The PIF will also have the right of first refusal to new investments in the merged tour, according to the announcement of the merger. “Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a pre-emptive right to any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.” The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board, the statement said, and hold a majority interest in the combined entity.
News of the merger was both shocking — the parties had been clashing for months in lawsuits now drawing to a close — and almost inevitable: many in golf believed this was a distinct possibility from when LIV entered the market last year. sports came.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the wealth fund and the PGA Tour said the former rivals would “implement a plan to grow these combined commercial businesses, drive increased fan engagement and accelerate growth initiatives already underway.”
In a statement, Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said: “Going forward, fans can rest assured that we will collectively deliver on our commitment that we have always made – to promote the competition of the best in professional golf and that we are determined to secure and drive the future of the game.”
Under the terms of the preliminary agreement, the Public Investment Fund will initially be the exclusive investor in the mixed operation, along with established tours, including the DP World Tour and LIV. Monahan is expected to become the CEO of the new group, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the wealth fund, as chairman.
In a memorandum to PGA Tour players on Tuesday, Monahan said the wealth fund would take a minority stake in the new for-profit company that will control men’s golf. But al-Rumayyan’s rise to the golf boardrooms promises to concentrate enormous power in Riyadh.
LIV plunged into professional golf last year by luring some of the world’s most prominent players, including Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, with guaranteed contracts sometimes said to be worth $100 million or more and tournament prizes that surpass the richest in golf history. It presented itself as a vibrant improvement on a staid sport – “Play golf louder” was one of its slogans.
Challenging the entrenched PGA by breaking new ground and acquiring rich incomes, it found willing partners in some of the world’s best players.
“If Saudi Arabia wants to use the game of golf as a way to get where they want to be, and they have the resources to accelerate that experience,” one of the LIV’s signatories, former US Open champion Graeme McDowellsaid, “I think we’re proud to help them on that journey.”
The PGA Tour, long the dominant force in professional golf, retaliated by banning all players who had joined the new tour from the events. In sometimes caustic public statements and legal documents, the tour argued that the Saudi-backed competition compromised the sport’s integrity and was little more than a cover for Saudi ambitions to restore the kingdom’s reputation.
Just last fall, Monahan said publicly that even the idea of a merger was out of the question. “It’s Not in the Cards”, he said at the time. “It wasn’t in the cards and it’s not in the cards. I think we’ve been pretty consistent on that front.”
But by Tuesday afternoon, the golf era of high-dollar manship was over, with promises of “due fair and objective process for all players” seeking a return to good standing with the PGA Tour or its European counterpart.