The news of the surprise merger between the PGA, DP and LIV Tours has taken players by surprise with some expressing feelings of shock and betrayal.
The announcement was made earlier today and it seems many players were caught completely blind-sided by the unexpected news.
After more than a year of contention and litigation between LIV and the established Tours and high profile fall-outs between players, the dispute was simply ended with the joining of forces to 'unify Golf'.
READ MORE: PGA letter to players in full confirming merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf
One American player, Wesley Bryan, replied to the PGA Tour tweet confirming the merger by saying: “Love finding out info on Twitter. This is amazing. Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer.
“I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA TOUR for a very long time.”
The news came as a huge surprise to many professionals, with Canadian Mackenzie Hughes tweeting: “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”
Fellow professional player Ben An wrote: “I’m guessing the LIV teams were struggling to get sponsors and PGA Tour couldn’t turn down the money.
“Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”
Phil Mickleson, a member of the LIV contingent, described the merger as "awesome news".
The new entity will be heavily financed by Saudi Arabia's PIF (Public Investment Fund). The statement confirmed the PIF would, “make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success”.
The same fund will also have exclusive rights to further invest in the entity, according to the statement.
Amnesty International expressed concern at what it saw as a further attempt by Saudi Arabia to launder its human rights record through the vehicle of sport.
“While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,” Amnesty UK’s Felix Jakens said.
“It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.”
Martin Slumbers, R&A chief executive welcomed the news of the agreement. His statement read: “We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come.
“This agreement represents a huge step toward achieving that goal for golf and we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally.”
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