Shock Announcement: PGA Tour Now Owned by the Saudis

Yesterday came the shock news that the PGA Tour would be "merging" with the LIV Tour, which is owned by the murderous Saudi regime.  After months and months of unprecedented rancor, mudslinging, litigation and burned friendships, the PGA and DP World Tours accepted they were better together with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The use of the word "merger" is disingenuous at best.  In reality, the PGA Tour would fall under a corporate holding structure that is 100% funded by the Saudi PIF, and no one else would be allowed to invest in the entity. The corporate holding structure would be run by PIF's Yasir Al-Rumayyan as well. So, in essence, the PGA Tour would be wholly owned by the Saudis.

Critics of Saudi Arabia's human rights record regard the deal as another tawdry extension of sports-washing.  The PGA, DP, European and LIV tours will be run together in a profit-making venture.  The tours themselves will continue with their 2023 schedules, but the new commercial reality means future calendars will be heavily altered. While there is now peace between rival factions, there will still be plenty of turmoil ahead.

Many players are furious after staying loyal to the established tours by turning down lucrative offers to go to LIV.  Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy (the faces of the the PGA's fight with LIV Golf's chief Greg Norman) were not told in advance of the deal and have so far not commented publicly.

The fact neither figure knew of the deal being brokered is another extraordinary facet in this stunning development.  PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan revealed it was seven weeks in the making and involved only a tight-knit group of officials. "There were four in-person meetings and a number of video calls and phone conversations," Monahan said.  "When you get into these conversations and given the complexity of what we were dealing with, it's not uncommon that the circle of information is very tight."

The new company will be chaired by PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, with Monahan as CEO and an executive committee that will include PGA Tour policy board chairman Ed Herlihy and board member Jimmy Dunne.  According to Monahan it was Herlihy and Dunne who were involved in the initial talks to broker the deal. Less than two months later Monahan was sharing a television studio couch with his new business partner Al-Rumayyan.

The PGA Tour commissioner's change of direction is astonishing given his criticism of the Saudi regime when LIV was regarded as a hostile "existential threat" to the US circuit.  "I recognize everything I've said in my past positions," Monahan admitted. "I recognize people are going to call me a hypocrite. Anytime I said anything, I said it with the information I had in the moment."

He now has to win over his players and formulate a future that includes the DP World Tour, which has to stall its plans to reveal a revamped 2024 schedule.  Right now, no-one knows how that will look across the golfing globe. Somehow the competing interests of the three circuits involved have to be accommodated, and the European tour will do well not to feel further marginalized.  It has no board representation with the new entity, although chief executive Keith Pelley says he is confident that will change.

With peace declared, potential scope for interchangeability between circuits and more substantial television deals, the LIV team concept could become a lot more attractive.  It is also a bonus for all sides that legal proceedings against each other have ceased. The process of discovery was not attractive for LIV and the cost implications for the PGA Tour were also significant.  The deal also potentially eases pressure on the Ryder Cup. It will, surely, be easier to accommodate last month's US PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and other leading lights from LIV in the US team.

Frameworks to reintegrate those who jumped ship are being worked out. They will no doubt involve financial penalties and in Europe's case the punishments deemed fair and proportionate by an independent arbitration panel in April will stand.  But the fact the two sides are no longer at war should make it easier for the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell to rejoin the tour and regain a chance of future Ryder Cup roles.

LIV frontman Norman - such a big player in these golf wars - was absent from the announcement. It has been reported that he is unlikely to be involved in the new partnership.  "A great day in global golf for players and fans alike," the Australian former world number one tweeted. "The journey continues."

But whether Norman will be on board remains to be seen. Both Woods and McIlroy - who is due to speak today before defending his Canadian Open title, said they could only do business with LIV if its commissioner stood down.   As Monahan stated, "circumstances change" and it seems they will continue to evolve at a rapid rate in the coming days and weeks. His next challenge is to win over his players - they are tour loyalists but their loyalty to him is being tested.