It was the announcement that no-one saw coming, not even the players it seems. After all the quarrel and ill will from either side of the divide in the men’s game, the PGA and DP World Tours have decided to merge with LIV Golf in what is being hailed as a “momentous day.”
Among a great many other things, it brings an end to the litigation that was pending and will see a new, collectively owned commercial entity formed with the aim of delivering excitement and competition among players across all tours.
More than anything else at this early stage, though, it raises questions. How did this happen? Why did very few people have any idea it was being discussed behind closed doors? What does it mean for the Ryder Cup and players who resigned their memberships to the PGA and/or DP World Tours? The list goes on.
With that in mind, we thought it best to run through some of the more pressing issues and attempt to provide explanations and realistic suggestions where possible…
How will the tours merge?
The new entity that is to be created still has no name, so it’s unlikely we’ll find out the answer to this until probably late in 2023, but this is what we know thus far via the PGA Tour statement.
It read: “The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.”
It continues: “The Board of Directors of the new commercial entity will include [Yasir] Al-Rumayyan as Chairman and [Jay] Monahan as Chief Executive Officer; the new entity’s Board will also include an Executive Committee comprising Al-Rumayyan, Monahan, [Ed] Herlihy and PGA TOUR Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne.
“The full Board will be announced at a later date, and it is anticipated that all three founding members will have representation.”
So, it appears the ‘new entity’ will be largely run by the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund, but what does that mean for the golfing calendar? Remember, the big issue the established tours had with LIV Golf was that it was running conflicting events and contracting some of the sport’s biggest names to play in them.
There will still be a PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf in 2024 it seems, so maybe little will change. LIV events will clearly be kept away from the PGA and DP World Tour flagship events, as well as the Majors, but it’s very possible next year’s calendar could…
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