Jay Monahan handing over Brooks Koepka his WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Trophy in 2019
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF, the main financial backer of LIV Golf, have officially announced their merger, putting an end to a two-year conflict within the professional golf industry.
“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 to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players,” the statement reads.
Monahan told The Associated Press that the merger was necessary to end “all this tension in the game.”
“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. “We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”
How players reacted to the news –
Phil Mickelson, the renowned six-time major winner and one of the earliest defectors to LIV Golf, has been outspoken in his criticism of the PGA Tour’s operations. He tweeted out this to express his feelings about the news.
Awesome day today https://t.co/qUwVJiydym
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) June 6, 2023
Joel Dahmen –
I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour!
— Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) June 6, 2023
Collin Morikawa –
I love finding out morning news on Twitter
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023
Wesley Bryan –
Love finding out info on twitter. This is amazing. Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer
— Wesley Bryan (@wesleybryangolf) June 6, 2023
Credits:-
Photo – SB Nation