NA NA NA SURPRISE SERIES

Participating players in the LIV Golf series were banned from competing in PGA Tour events – although they could compete in all four majors – and were punished for leaving the established tours. Jay Monahan addresses the media during a news conference prior to the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 22, 2022. “After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said in a statement. Most importantly, the merger would end almost two years of legal disputes between the organizations and their participants. The announcement also said that Al-Rumayyan, the majority owner of Premier League club Newcastle United, would be named to the board of the new entity as chairman, with Monahan named the chief executive. Monahan said that golf’s calendar for 2023 would remain the same, while also confirming that the team element to LIV’s format would continue in some capacity. The announcement promised a “capital investment” from PIF – Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has splashed billions of dollars on investments at home and overseas – to “facilitate” the “growth and success” of the new entity. In a memo to PGA Tour players, commissioner Jay Monahan said the new partnership would require approval from the PGA Tour policy board, while Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), told CNBC he expected it to be finalized “in a matter of weeks.” The move unifies PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf’s commercial businesses and rights under a new, yet to be named for-profit company.Ī spokesperson for the PGA Tour told CNN that the new relationship is not being viewed as a merger, but “a partnership/creation of a new commercial entity.” A truce has been called.Īlthough it’s unclear at this stage what this means for the future of golf, it appears some of its most important stakeholders are attempting to bring unity to the sport after a period of division.

The US-based PGA Tour said its merger with the breakaway LIV Golf and the DP World Tour would “unify the game,” with all pending litigation mutually ended under the new agreement. Tuesday’s announcement that golf’s bitter rivals would join forces took everyone by surprise – even, it seems, the players.

Na na na surprise