Is your head spinning over the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger that has players similarly in shock and golf fans making The Office jokes?
Yes, ours too. There’s SO MUCH to take in from this news that has sent shockwaves around the golf world and the fallout may take a while before things settle.
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As we heard the news on Tuesday morning, we all had so many questions to ask. So we’ve collected some of them here and attempted to answer them as best we can with the news changing seemingly by the minute. We’ll update this if we need to:
1
Why is this happening in the first place?
The short answer: Money. And also, the future of the PGA Tour.
The longer answer: The merger creates a giant for-profit behemoth that gets rid of the upstart LIV Golf league and instead proves that all the talk of the Saudi sportswashing that the PGA Tour and its golfers called out was for naught.
But it was becoming clear that the LIV Golf route was a huge problem for the PGA Tour. Even with the moral issues of joining LIV, the PGA Tour had to content with LIVers getting guaranteed money for less work instead of grinding it out more on the Tour without the cushion of a good payday.
All of this takes care of that issue.
2
How do players feel about it?
No official word yet, but …
And everyone thought yesterday was the longest day in golf
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023
How should the players feel?
I don't know how any player who turned down LIV money and stayed with the PGA could believe anything Jay Monahan says ever again. He made them take every arrow, hid in an office for a year, then double crossed them on CNBC.
Better get them paid, I guess.
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 6, 2023
The PGA Tour convinced many of its players that taking Saudi money from LIV Golf was immoral.
But now the PGA Tour is merging with LIV, creating a new entity with Saudi's sovereign wealth fund as the only outside investor.
The players that turned down the money must be PISSED.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 6, 2023
3
Is Jay Monahan going to be as involved as he was?
Hmm.
Look at this key line from the story in @TheAthletic on the PGA & LIV merger.
The Saudi PIF rep is the Chairman of the Board. Jay Monahan is CEO.
Is Monahan reporting to Al-Rumayyan?
This is nuts. pic.twitter.com/dBXyKh08Am
— Jason Page (@TheBackPage) June 6, 2023
Monahan is also rightfully being raked over the coals for this quote from a year ago and now selling to the Saudis:
The Canadian Open is this week. Here is what PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said at that event one year ago. pic.twitter.com/CtmnK74kbd
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) June 6, 2023
4
Will we get to see all this in the next season of Full Swing?
A timely tweet here:
A timely reminder that there is going to be a Season 2 of Full Swing… 👀
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 6, 2023
5
Did anyone know about this from the PGA Tour's pros?
We don’t have that answer, but there’s A LOT of speculation over Rory McIlroy’s recent quotes:
Something tells me this is why Rory McIlroy stopped talking about PGA Tour vs. LIV a few weeks back…
— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) June 6, 2023
That said, he was still fairly anti-LIV:
🚨❌🇪🇺 #WATCH Rory McIlroy says NO to LIV players playing for the European team at The Ryder Cup. @TrackingRory
pic.twitter.com/DGszMCUjvx— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 31, 2023
6
What will the new tour look like?
No answer to that yet. But: The teams format from LIV? The 54-hole tournaments? Not cuts? The payouts the golfers can receive? No word yet.
