In sports, we like to ask “Did you have that on your (insert sport or sporting event) bingo card?” This wouldn’t have made the wildest of golf bingo cards.
Today the PGA Tour, Public Investment Fund (LIV Golf), and the DP World Tour announced a groundbreaking merger that will be immortalized as one of the most stunning days in golf history.
The details are still limited, however, here is what we know:
The PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the DP World Tour will become one as a for-profit LLC, with Jay Monahan as the CEO. The Public Investment Fund will supply money for this new LLC, and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be on the board. All litigation is squashed. The deal came together over the last seven weeks, according to Monahan. Players can re-apply for PGA and DP World Tour memberships after the 2023 season. The LIV Golf season will continue for the remainder of their 2023 season as planned. There will be a players meeting at the RBC Canadian Open later today where Monahan will meet with players at the event. Full Swing was filming. Greg Norman was told just before the interview took place on CNBC this morning. Golf Channel spent over three hours without taking a commercial break talking about the merger, which is anomalous in television.
What we don’t know:
We don’t know what the LLC will be called. We also don’t know what the 2024 schedule will look like for next year and we don’t know what the LIV Golf schedule will look like if there is a LIV Golf schedule at all. Who knew? From tweets like from Collin Morikawa, the indication is that none or very few players knew of this deal taking place. Did Tiger know? Did Rory know? Maybe we will get those answers, but as of right now, we simply don’t know who if any players knew of this agreement. We also aren’t sure of what this means for the Ryder Cup. Henrik Stenson had his Team Europe captaincy stripped from him after he signed with LIV Golf. Does that mean he gets to be a Captain again? Does that mean LIV players have the green light to play in the Ryder Cup without penalty? Also, the DP World Tour fined some players for playing with LIV, so the obvious question is do they get their fines back?
There are a lot more questions than answers at this time as the situation is still developing. One thing is certain, golf fans will remember where they were on June 6, 2023.
What are your thoughts on the merger? You can leave your thoughts on the YouTube video in the comments section. I apologize ahead of time for the very nasally episode, allergies suck.
Thank you for listening and as I mentioned at the end of the episode, we will do two episodes next week, a review of what has happened on the course over the past few weeks and a U.S. Open preview show.
Just when you thought you’d seen it all…