The PGA Tour is set to merge with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league in a deal that will alter the future of professional golf with the two biggest forces in the sport become one massive entity. The yet-to-be-named, new for-profit company, will also include the DP World Tour, also known as the European Tour as a part of the merger
According to a PGA Tour press release, the new entity “will work to ensure a cohesive schedule of events that will be exciting for fans, sponsors and all stakeholders.”
LIV Golf is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is a financial enterprise controlled by the Saudi government that had been engaged in antitrust lawsuits with the PGA Tour over the last calendar year. As a result of this new merger, all of that pending litigation would come to an end.
The Public Investment Fund will invest billions of dollars in new capital into this new entity, according to CNBC’s David Faber. The specific terms of this merger have yet to be announced.
Upon learning of this landscape-shifting news, several of the world’s top golfers from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, as well as other sports figures, weighed in on the news via Twitter.
Koepka — fresh off becoming the first LIV golfer to win a major title at the 2023 PGA Championship — is referencing Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, who has been outspoken with his thoughts on LIV Golf’s connection to the Saudi government. He recently tweeted that LIV Golf “is not so much a sports entity as it is MBS / Saudi Arabia trying to hide their atrocities and launder its reputation by buying sports stars.”