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PGA Tour didn't notify players before announcing merger with LIV Golf

profilephotocropby:Suzanne Halliburton•06/06/23•

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No doubt, the most shocking sports news of the day involved the merger of the PGA with controversial upstart LIV. It turns out, the golfers didn’t know beforehand.

ESPN said it reached out to a golfer for comment about the LIV-PGA marriage. The news caught the golfer off guard. “No f—ing way,” he said.

Collin Morikawa learned of the stunning news by checking social media. He shared on the same platform that gave him the info. “I love finding out morning news on Twitter,” he wrote.

PGA commissioner called LIV merger ‘transformational’

PGA officials, along with those from LIV and the DP World Tour, issued a shocking statement Tuesday morning to announce the merger.

“The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”

PIF refers to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. And the DP World Tour is the European men’s tour.

The marriage of the sides also ends all anti-trust litigation and presumably will ease tensions amongst the professionals. A number of star players, including recent PGA winner Brooks Koepka, bolted from the PGA two years ago for huge, guaranteed signing bonuses. In return, the LIV players did team events and participated in fewer tournaments for more money. LIV started play last year. This year’s Masters represented the first time players from both organizations competed together.

Golfers who stuck with the PGA complained that LIV sportswashed some of the civil rights atrocities committed by the Saudi government.

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement to the media. Monahan described the merger as “transformational.”

Still, the golfers who will play in this “transformational” tour didn’t receive a heads up before the announcement.

One golfer said they’d already agreed never to merge

Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, who won this year’s Sanderson Farms Championship, found out the news just like Morikawa.

Hughes tweeted: “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”

Michael S Kim, who has three top 10 finishes on the PGA this season, posted:

“Very curious how many people knew this deal was happening. About 5-7 people? Player run organization right?”

Phil Mickelson was the first big PGA name to jump to LIV two years ago. And he’s made it a point to troll people on Twitter if they criticize the Saudi-backed group. He went after Rory McIlroy last week and took on Golf Channel analyst and ex-pro Brandel Chamblee.

Mickelson celebrated Tuesday’s PGA-LIV announcement. “Awesome news today.”