Wow. It hasn’t even been a year yet since the first LIV golf event, but the PGA and LIV tours have reached an agreement to join forces. We have a lot to unpack here, but luckily when I had some free time in December I had made a detailed timeline of each tour’s history, so if you are unfamiliar with this feud in the golf world, this will get you caught up mighty quick.
Now that everyone is up to speed, let’s dive into the new drama. It was announced yesterday that the PGA Tour, LIV Tour, and DP World Tour would be united under one “umbrella”, with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) being the exclusive investor in the new, yet to be named, world golf league. This announcement was not shared with the players of the PGA tour before it hit social media. To go along with this , it was made public that the Netflix “Full Swing” series was taping season two when the news broke, so we should have some unreal footage and reactions when that season drops.
Players from the LIV tour were ecstatic about the news, while players that remained loyal to the PGA were understandably crushed. Many of the top players on the PGA Tour were offered tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to defect to LIV, but out of loyalty and respect for history, they opted to stay. That decision proved to be an incredibly poor investment decision, because within a year, the disloyal players that joined LIV are likely now going to be back as if they never left. Rory McIlroy had some strong words on the topic while in an interview this afternoon:
Building off of that second clip, what many golf fans are now asking is “what compensation will PGA players receive for sticking with the tour?”. It was reported that Tiger Woods was offered nearly a billion dollars, Rory in the ballpark of $500 million, and others like Hideki Matsuyama around $300 million by LIV, but all of them turned those offers down to stick with the PGA. So, now that players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson will most likely be coming back to the tour without punishment and hundreds of millions in their pockets, should the players that chose not to leave be rewarded for their loyalty or at least paid in hopes of brokering peace in the new league? I think so, but what those negotiations and final monetary value will look like will be interesting to see.
Other questions that I have revolve around the many tours and events that associate with the PGA Tour. For example, the four majors of professional golf, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and the Open Championship are all operated by organizations separate from the PGA Tour. So, now that the tour is funded by the bottomless pockets of the PIF, how will the four majors keep up with the high purse prices of the weekly events on the tour? I expect that the majors will remain a constant in professional golf, but will those organizations that run each tournament be forced to get funding from the PIF as well? Also, with the DP Tour now joining in, what will happen to the Korn Ferry Tour, and what will the entry to professional golf look like in the future?
On Friday I will get into much more of this story, but there is still many unconfirmed rumors that need to be clarified. From Jon Rahm forcing the PGA’s hand by being deep into talks with LIV, to Jay Monahan looking like the biggest hypocrite on the planet, I need some more information before digging my feet in. I will say this though, if nothing is clarified by Friday, I will be burying Monahan in my article because these NBA and NHL Finals are too boring to write about (and I may still be a bit butt hurt about my Celtics and Bruins).
Let me know what else I should touch on on Friday and what you think about this whole ordeal in the comments below!