The most disruptive year in golf ended on Tuesday when the PGA Tour and European tour agreed to a merger with Saudi Arabia’s golf interests, creating a commercial operation designed to unify professional golf around the world.
As part of the deal, the sides are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf, effective immediately.
LIV Golf stars (l-r): Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, chief executive Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia.
The LIV Golf series is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and critics have 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.
The rival circuit launched in 2022 and has lured a number of big-name players from the PGA Tour, including Hall of Fame golfer Phil Mickelson, former world No.1 Dustin Johnson, reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Australian Cameron Smith.
Australian great Greg Norman was chosen as Liv Golf CEO and became the public face of the enterprise.
The three organisations said in a joint news release that they would work co-operatively to allow a process for any LIV Golf players to reapply for PGA Tour and DP World Tour membership following the 2023 season.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in the news release.
It was unclear what form the LIV Golf League would take in 2024.
Monahan said in a memo to players that a thorough evaluation would determine how to integrate team golf into the game.
The agreement combines the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights – including LIV Golf – with those of the PGA and European tours. The new entity has not been named.
“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realise all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with the Associated Press.
Greg Norman has been the face of LIV Golf.Credit: Getty
“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”
Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will join the board of the PGA Tour, which will continue to operate its tournaments.
Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of the new commercial group, with Monahan as the CEO and the PGA Tour having a majority stake in the new venture.
“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” said al-Rumayyan.
“We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparallelled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide.”
Monahan said the decision came together over the last seven weeks.
LIV had sued the PGA Tour last year for allegedly engaging in monopolistic behaviour by using restrictive rules intended to deprive golfers from playing in rival leagues.
The PGA sought subpoenas to gather additional material to support its claims in its countersuit that LIV illegally pushed players to break contracts with the legacy US-based tour by offering them exorbitant sums of money.
The announcement on Tuesday confirmed that all court cases would be dropped.
AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
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