PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf will merge into one entity following 2023 season

In a stunning development for professional men's golf, the upstart LIV Tour, funded by the controversial Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, will merge with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have agreed to merge into a single entity. The merger ends all pending litigation between the sides, which have been embroiled in lawsuits regarding antitrust claims. According to CNBC, the PIF is prepared to invest billions of new capital into the new entity, which is yet to be named.

The tours called the development "a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis." ESPN reported the deal was reached without the knowledge of many PGA Tour members and LIV Golf players and agents. The Public Investment Fund had dumped more than $2 billion into its golf enterprise already but essentially lost it all.

In a statement, the circuits said the parties have signed an agreement that "combines PIF's golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game's best players."

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed the new organization would start after the end of the current golf season and would incorporate LIV Golf's team model: "Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we've always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game's future." It was reported last week that the 2024 PGA schedule would be released in roughly a month's time, but the merger will likely change the calculus.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Board of Directors of the new entity will oversee and direct all the new entity's golf-related commercial operations, businesses and investments. That board will set up a schedule combining the Tours. The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity. Monahan will remain as PGA Tour commissioner, though PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the Tour's policy board.

The final straw for this merger might have been LIV golfer Brooks Koepka winning the PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago. In addition, LIV golfers finished second (Koepka), and tied for fourth (Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed) at the Masters.

Of course, Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Mickelson, Reed and other LIV members aren't currently allowed to play PGA Tour events, but majors are different. All LIV golfers now can reapply for reinstatement following the 2023 campaign. Those LIV golfers arguably are the biggest winners here (as is Greg Norman) because they all got large amounts of guaranteed money to switch tours. The PGA Tour doesn't allow guaranteed money, and it's not clear if that will change. 

It will be interesting to see what this merger decision means for this year's Ryder Cup, if anything. It was thought that competition between the USA and Europe would not include LIV players because they aren't members of the PGA Tour or DP World Tour. The 44th edition of the biennial event gets underway on Sept. 29 in Rome.

The PGA Tour is in Canada this week with Rory McIlroy favored to win the RBC Canadian Open for a third time. There's no LIV event this week, and then all the top players converge on Los Angeles next week for the US Open. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the current +700 favorite. He's not playing this week. 

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