LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger, explained: Why golf's rival tours joined forces to 'unify the game'

LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger, explained: Why golf’s rival tours joined forces to ‘unify the game’

No one called “fore” on this one.

After a few years of verbal sparring, court filings and bad blood, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have agreed to merge, ending golf’s civil war in a stunning turn of events.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan commented on the shocker on Tuesday:

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said in a statement Tuesday. “This transformational partnership recognizes 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 organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.”

MORE: Who is playing LIV Golf in 2023? Updated list of PGA Tour defectors

Still, there are questions as to why, how and when this got done. The latest details on the merger between the golf superpowers, what it means and more are below:

Why is PGA Tour merging with LIV Golf?

In a statement released by the PGA Tour on Tuesday, commissioner Jay Monahan cited the benefits of wanting to merge golf entities — the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour (the European Tour) — in efforts to grow the game and to “drive the game’s future.”

This transformational partnership recognizes 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 organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans. Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future.

Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan added:

Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world. 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.

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.

More than just window-dressing pleasantries, though, there are plenty of business ramifications involved, largely beneficial for all parties. The PGA Tour will retain its tax-exempt status, which was in jeopardy because of an antitrust lawsuit filed by LIV Golf lawyers in November. While the lawsuit took several blows, including delays and being struck down in federal court, it was still alive as of time of the merger.

As part of the merger, all pending litigation, including that antitrust lawsuit, has been dropped, which is a win for the PGA Tour (and its 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status).

LIV Golf ran its first tournaments in 2022, drawing some of the world’s best and most notable players from the PGA Tour, including Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. Those players signed contracts, some in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to join the tour.

LIV had been struggling to draw viewers to its product, with the CW television experiment in the U.S. largely failing to generate much viewership, according to reports.

MORE: LIV Golf ratings, explained — Why TV viewership is a massive mystery

While details surrounding how the merger will work and how products will differentiate remain to be clarified, there appears to be a new entity that will operate, of which Monahan will be CEO, while Al-Rumayyan will also sit on the board.  The new entity will likely operate separately from the PGA Tour, and may include some of LIV Golf’s leadership.

To that end, in a letter to the players, Monahan reaffirmed that the PGA Tour will “retain administrative oversight” in the PGA Tour, including sanctioning events and the administration of policies and rules. Monahan remains as commissioner of the Tour.

What’s noteworthy in the letter is that Monahan posits this idea of incorporating team golf into the fold, but no word on what may come next for LIV Golf’s format after their 2023 season concludes. Also of note, players who were suspended from the PGA Tour and had their cards revoked will have an opportunity to regain them at some point.

Curiously, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was not mentioned in the initial press release, with Al-Rumayyan informing Norman of the merger just minutes before a scheduled appearance on CNBC.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan on whether Greg Norman knows about this: “I made the call just before this [interview on CNBC]. 👀

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 6, 2023

This story will be updated.