PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

The PGA Tour has made a complete U-turn by merging with rival LIV Golf less than a year after PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters such an arrangement was “off the table.”

In a shocking move unknown to PGA stars and LIV Commissioner Greg Norman until Tuesday morning, the PGA and European Tours have signed an agreement with the Saudi-backed circuit to combine their businesses into a new, yet to be named company. . Most importantly, the merger puts an end to ongoing litigation between the two parties. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

The move represents a major win for LIV Golf, which has been shunned by many golf icons, including Tour legends Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Since its inception in 2021, LIV Golf has managed to buy some of the world’s best players, spending hundreds of millions on the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, while reportedly offering Woods a $1 billion deal that he eventually declined.

Meanwhile, the upstart tour has also been criticized for its ties to Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF). Critics have accused the kingdom of ‘tarnishing’ its unflattering human rights record through popular sports, such as golf and football, while defectors have been accused of being greedy.

Donald Trump, whose golf courses have hosted several LIV events, broke the news on his social media network: GREAT NEWS FROM LIV GOLF. A BIG BEAUTIFUL, AND GLAMOR DEAL FOR THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF. GONGRATS EVERYONE!!!’

Trump has been highly critical of the PGA in recent years after that tour moved the 2022 championship from his New Jersey job amid uproar over the infamous Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally.

The merger comes one year after LIV Golf’s first event and ends the legal battle with the PGA.

While the PGA was accused of violating antitrust laws by banning LIV players from its tour, the premier golf circuit ousted its Saudi-backed rivals, accusing the outfit of interfering in its deals.

Players who defected to LIV Golf were banned from PGA events, but continued to play in the majors. For example, Koepka of LIV Golf won the PGA Championship last month.

The merger between PGA and LIV came as a complete surprise to the golfing world.

It was only a week ago at the Canadian Open that Monahan attacked LIV Golf by rhetorically asking his players, “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Now Monahan is somehow collaborating with Saudi Arabia.

Even PGA players, who had stood allegiance to the Tour rather than taking the Saudi millions, were caught off guard by the news.

“Shocked and confused,” said an unidentified golfer Bar stool by Dan Rapaport.

“Indignant,” said another. “They didn’t tell us.”

“There’s nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour we said we never would,” read a tweet from golfer Mackenzie Hughes.

And when asked if Norman was aware of the deal, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told CNBC, “I called just before that [interview].’

Critics of the PGA-LIV merger wasted little time condemning the deal, which is said to help repair Saudi Arabia’s tarnished reputation around the world.

“While this may have surprised some golf fans and commentators, it is really just more evidence of the rise of Saudi sportswashing,” said Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk.

“It has been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was willing to spend huge amounts of money to push its way into top-flight golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to deflect attention. lead from the horrid wave of the land. human rights file.

Beyond the glamor of the golf courses and TV cameras, there has been increasing repression in Saudi Arabia, with the arrests of government critics and human rights activists, a spate of unfair trials and the death penalty being widely used, including as a tool of political repression.’

Saudi Arabia has come under attack for its treatment of women, homosexuals and corporal punishment, among other things. Last year, the kingdom executed nearly 200 people (compared to 18 in the United States).

In addition, Saudi Arabia angered the United States in 2018 with the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was murdered and dismembered.

“Last year alone, Saudi authorities executed 196 people, the highest number in at least 30 years, and University of Leeds PhD student Salma al-Shehab received a lengthy prison sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists,” Jakens continued. . .

“The golf world may be on the verge of one of its most high-profile commercial battles, but it is vital that this latest wave of Saudi sportswashing does not obscure Saudi Arabia’s deteriorating human rights record.”

Speaking to the Associated Press, Monahan acknowledged his apparent U-turn.

“I understand the criticism,” Monahan said. “To me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interest. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.’

Saudi Arabia’s PIF was in a spending mood this month.

It was revealed on Monday that the fund will take control of the country’s top four football clubs on top of Newcastle United’s ownership, although a specific fee has not been reported.

One of the clubs, Al-Nassr, recently signed Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo to a two-and-a-half-year contract worth a whopping $315 million per season.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s World Cup winner Lionel Messi, 35, is reportedly set to sign for Al-Hilal this week after being offered a whopping $428 million per season.

Messi has just played his last game for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He has been working as a travel ambassador for Saudi Arabia since last year, earning $31 million a year.

Monday’s announcement said the PIF will own 75 percent of each club.

“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” Al-Rumayyan said in a statement. “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 companies and industries around the world .

“We are committed to uniting, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and providing the highest quality products to the many millions of longtime fans worldwide, while cultivating new fans.

The PGA Tour will maintain its tax-exempt status despite the merger, the press release said.

The fate of players who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf remains unclear. Some may have to pay a fine, according to Rapport.

Likewise, the future of LIV’s team format remains undecided. Monahan said in a memo to players that the PGA will conduct a review before deciding how to integrate team golf into its tour.

“They followed their path, we followed ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize that all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have a responsibility for our tour and for the game, and we felt the time was right to have that conversation.”

LIV Golf is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has committed at least $2 billion to the circuit. But while the rebel tour has attracted media attention in the form of news articles, that publicity has yet to translate into major media rights or sponsorship deals.

Currently, LIV Golf events can be seen on the CW and YouTube, though Nielsen’s ratings have been disappointing to say the least. LIV Golf no longer reports viewership data after claiming that Nielsen’s ratings are inaccurate.

There are some top names involved in LIV Golf, including big winners such as Koepka, Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau, who were lured with lucrative signing bonuses reportedly worth as much as $100 million to $200 million. Phil Mickelson was reportedly paid $200 million to defect to LIV Golf.

Critics say LIV Golf is simply “sportwashing” Saudi Arabia’s brutal human rights record.