The PGA Tour has come to an agreement to merge with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league in a deal that will see the two biggest forces in the sport become one massive entity. The two sides will combine into a new for-profit company, and as part of the agreement, the DP World Tour, also known as the European Tour, is also involved in the merger.
The new entity “will work to ensure a cohesive schedule of events that will be exciting for fans, sponsors and all stakeholders,” per a press release from the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is a financial enterprise controlled by the Saudi government. The entity had been engaged in antitrust lawsuits with the PGA Tour over the last calendar year. As a result of this new merger, all of that pending litigation would come to an end.
The Public Investment Fund will invest billions of dollars in new capital into this new entity, according to CNBC’s David Faber. The specific teams of this merger have yet to be announced.
Upon learning of this landscape-shifting news, several of the world’s top golfers from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, as well as other sports figures, weighed in on the news via Twitter.
Koepka — fresh off becoming the first LIV golfer to win a major title at the 2023 PGA Championship — is referencing Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, who has been outspoken with his thoughts on LIV Golf’s connection to the Saudi government. He recently tweeted that LIV Golf “is not so much a sports entity as it is MBS / Saudi Arabia trying to hide their atrocities and launder its reputation by buying sports stars.”
PGA Tour, LIV Golf merger: Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, others react to landscape-shifting partnership
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