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What does the PGA and LIV merger mean for the golf world in 2023 and beyond?

by Matt Zitt - 6/7/2023

PGA Tour and LIV merger Tiger Woods

The PGA Tour, the world’s most prestigious professional golf league, and LIV, a Saudi-funded startup whose emergence split the sport in two, have agreed to join forces. The deal is complicated, and numerous professional golfers have expressed their frustrations over social media. The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy over the past seven weeks until news broke on Tuesday. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour Commissioner, stressed that there was only a framework agreement and not a definitive agreement, with many details still needing to be decided.

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The concrete, definitive agreement will still have to be voted on by the PGA Tour’s policy board, which is essentially its board of directors. The policy board is made up of five independent directors, including Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who had influence and negotiated the tentative deal. The board also includes five players, consisting of Rory Mcllroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, and Webb Simpson. This upcoming vote could get very interesting as it is no secret that most players on the PGA Tour oppose the merger.

But, what does this mean for the rest of 2023?

For now, nothing changes. All the tours will remain separate, and all the tournaments will continue as scheduled. The final seven LIV Golf League events will continue per normal, starting with a tournament in Spain at the end of this month. The LIV season will conclude with a team championship in Saudi Arabia in early November.

Same thing with the PGA Tour. All events that have been scheduled will remain. There is also no expected change to the PGA’s plans of elevated events in 2024 with no cuts and reduced fields.

The bigger question might be what happens to the LIV Golf League if this merger does reach a completion?

If or when this merger is completed, it will become a new not-yet-named entity. The Saudis have already invested over $2 billion dollars into LIV. In court documents obtained by ESPN, LIV’s lawyers stated there was barely any revenue in its first season in 2022. They have also declined to dish out TV ratings.

With the Saudis verbally agreeing to invest even more billions of dollars into this new entity, they might lose interest in continuing to fund the LIV Golf League with little financial return. The team format could also be adopted into the PGA events going forward if LIV ceases to exist in 2024. Another option could be having LIV events in the fall after the conclusion of the PGA events. Regardless, there are numerous question marks surrounding the LIV Golf League after this framework agreement.

Money certainly talks, and former PGA players that jumped to LIV should feel a small victory. They got their big payday and now have wound up in the same pool as the current PGA players. Mickelson left for LIV for reportedly $200 million, Johnson $150 million, DeChambeau $125 million and Koepka $100 million.

However, the questions and non-answers from the commissioner add up. If LIV goes under, will Koepka, DJ, Mickelson, and company still get the rest of their deal? Will current PGA players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour get any money? Guys like Tiger Woods, Rory Mcllroy, and Hideki Matsuyama turned down hundreds of millions of dollars. If this new entity comes together, will the PGA give the LIV guys their player cards back?

These are all serious questions that need to be answered by the commissioner in the next few weeks. It was reported that Monahan sat down with players on Tuesday before they practiced for this week’s Canadian Open. It was described by players as an intense and heated conversation.

One would have to assume that the future money the Saudis invest would go to bigger purses for each tournament and allow players to compete for even bigger paydays. Monahan did state that tentative plans are in place for a lot of the questions that have been unanswered. For now, fans will have to wait and see what takes shape over the next few months. 

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