Golfers have reacted with surprise at the sudden announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour, Europe’s DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s controversial LIV Golf.
The news, announced in a statement on Tuesday, ended the legal wrangling between the parties, and the initial reaction among golfers suggested they were not informed and had no say in the outcome.
“I love finding out morning news on Twitter,” two-time major winner Collin Morikawa tweeted. Fellow American PGA Tour player Michael Kim wrote: “Very curious how many people knew this deal was happening. About 5-7 people? Player run organization right?” Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes tweeted: “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”
The reliably droll Joel Dahmen tweeted a dig at LIV Golf’s team format: “I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour!”
While the details remain sketchy, the deal will see a way back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour for those players who jumped ship for vast sums of money to join LIV over the past two years.
One golfer was delighted with the news. Phil Mickelson has been one of the leading figures on the LIV Golf tour and has been outspoken in his criticisms of the PGA Tour and its defenders, including Rory McIlroy.
“Awesome day today,” Mickelson tweeted.
And Brooks Koepka, another leading LIV star fresh from winning the PGA Championship in New York, aimed a dig at one of the Saudi tour’s most outspoken critics, NBC and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee.
“Welfare Check on Chamblee,” Koepka wrote.
South Korea’s Byeong Hun An offered an analysis of what unfolded in negoatiations between the parties. “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 [loss] for [those] who defended the tour for last two years.”
Sahith Theegala, ranked 27th in the world, described the news as “crazy” and warned there was “no way” PGA Tour players would accept the news developments.
