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

The PGA Tour has done a complete about-face by merging with rival LIV Golf less than one year after PGA commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters that such an arrangement was ‘off the table.’ 

In a shocking move that was 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 ends the ongoing litigation between the two sides. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. 

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

Since its founding in 2021, LIV Golf succeeded in buying some of the world’s top 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 ultimately turned down. 

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

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

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star, has been fighting for his tour’s survival 

Donald Trump, whose golf courses have hosted several LIV events, trumpeted the news

Former President Donald Trump, left, talks with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, center, and Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi on July 29, 2022

Trump has been highly critical of the PGA in recent years after that tour relocated its 2022 championship away from his course in New Jersey amid uproar over the infamous January 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally. 

The merger ends LIV Golf’s legal battle with the PGA.

While the PGA was accused of violating antitrust laws by banning LIV players from its tour, golf’s preeminent circuit countersued its Saudi-backed rivals, accusing the outfit of interfering with its deals.

Players who defected to LIV Golf were banned at PGA events, but have continued playing at the majors. For instance, LIV Golf’s Koepka won last month’s PGA Championship. 

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

On Monday, it was revealed that the fund will be taking control of the country’s four top soccer clubs on top of its ownership of Newcastle United, although specific compensation has not been reported. 

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

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

Trump (L), Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan (C), and Jared Kushner at a LIV event in 2022

Critics of the merger wasted little time in condemning the deal, which is allegedly aimed at helping rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s tarnished reputation throughout the world. 

‘While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,’ said Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk.

‘It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.

‘Away from the glamour of the golf courses and the TV cameras there’s been mounting repression in Saudi Arabia, with government critics and human rights activists arrested, a spate of unfair trials, and with the death penalty widely used, including as a tool of political repression.

‘Last year alone, the Saudi authorities executed 196 people, the highest number for at least 30 years, and the Leeds University PhD student Salma al-Shehab was given a long jail sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists.

‘The world of golf may be about to put one of its most high-profile commercial battles behind it, but it’s vital that this latest surge in Saudi sportswashing isn’t allowed to obscure the increasingly dire human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.’

A year ago, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan rejected the idea of merging with LIV Golf

The PGA-LIV merger was a complete surprise to the golf world. 

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

‘Shocked and confused,’ one unidentified golfer told Barstool’s Dan Rapaport.

‘Disgusted,’ another said. ‘They didn’t tell us anything.’ 

‘Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with,’ read a tweet from golfer Mackenzie Hughes. 

And when asked if Norman knew about the deal, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told CNBC: ‘I made the call just before this [interview].’

Trump (right) was kicked aside by the PGA, but found a new business partner in LIV Golf 

‘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 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. 

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

The fate players who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf remain unclear, as does the future of the LIV Golf League, which is primarily based around team competitions.

Monahan said in a memo to players that the PGA will do an evaluation before deciding on how to integrate team golf into his tour.

‘They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,’ Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. ‘We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.’

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote a memo to players on Tuesday (pictured)

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 had yet to translate to any major media rights or sponsorship deals.

Currently LIV Golf events can be seen on CW and YouTube, although Nielsen ratings have been disappointing to say the least.  LIV Golf is no longer reporting viewer data after claiming that Nielsen’s audience measurements are inaccurate.

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

Critics say LIV Golf is simply ‘sportswashing’ Saudi Arabia’s brutal human rights record.