PGA Tour, LIV Golf Announce Merger After Feud Split Industry

The PGA Tour is merging with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, it was announced Tuesday.

"The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis," the PGA Tour said in a press release. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund currently funds LIV Golf.

In the statement, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said: "This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR's history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf's players, commercial and charitable partners and fans."

The announcement comes after the PGA Tour and some of its players expressed opposition to the newly formed league. Several notable former PGA Tour players, such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.

Shortly after the players left the PGA Tour in 2022, Monahan announced that they would be suspended and said: "It's been an unfortunate week that was created by some unfortunate decisions, those decisions being players choosing to violate our tournament regulations. It's my job to protect, defend and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans. And that's exactly what I did."

On the other hand, several LIV players criticized the PGA Tour, and some even filed lawsuits.

Johnson, a two-time major champion, told the Australian Associated Press that LIV golfers "don't give a damn how he [Monahan] feels," earlier this year.

"We know how he feels about us, so it's mutual," Johnson reportedly added.

Newsweek reached out to LIV Golf via email for comment.

Following the announcement on Tuesday, many professional golfers responded to the news.

"Awesome day today," Mickelson, a six-time major champion, wrote on Twitter. Mickelson was one of the first big-name golfers to defect to LIV.

Collin Morikawa, a two-time major champion, wrote: "I love finding out morning news on Twitter," suggesting that some players were unaware of the merger before it was announced.

Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner, was one of the biggest critics of LIV Golf.

"It's dead in the water, in my opinion. I just can't see any reason why anyone would go," he said in 2022.

However, in 2023, he somewhat changed his tone on the breakaway golf league, saying, "look, competition is a good thing. It probably caused the PGA Tour to make changes a little quicker than they usually do. And ultimately that's a good thing for everyone that plays out here."

Theresa Caragol, an expert in business partnerships, told Newsweek on Tuesday: "Any kind of conflict resolution has to come from the executive level. Whether it's professional golfers or team members, everyone has to lean into the conflict and tackle it head on."

"Trust is essential and it will take time and work to establish a connection that can bridge the divide. It may even be necessary to bring in outside counsel to establish any kind of trust relationship in order to make the partnership work," Caragol, who is the founder of AchieveUnite, said.

Update 6/6/23, 12:23 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.

Update 6/6/23, 1:30 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and quotes from Theresa Caragol.