The Winners and Losers of PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger
Breaking news: one year after LIV golf came to be, it has merged with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. There have been lawsuits, insults, bad blood and now that’s all in the past.
The golf world is still trying to get its head around the news today that the three major golf tours have announced a merger. LIV Golf and the PGA Tour have decided to join forces along with the DP World Tour against all odds. It is shocking and we’re still trying to decide if this is good news for golf or bad news.
Some big names have voiced their opinion for and against the LIV Tour and tension has been high on both sides. Many PGA Tour players didn’t want to compete against the LIV golfers who chose to take the money from the Saudi-backed tour. Most players on both sides tried to stay out of the limelight, but others stood up and let the world know what they thought about LIV Golf and those who chose to leave the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf have agreed to merge to form a new commercial entity to unify golf. pic.twitter.com/GgG6PEUxJJ
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) June 6, 2023
Who are the winners of the merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Tour?
Phil Mickelson: Lefty has been one of the most outspoken players who went to LIV Tour. He was quiet around this time a year ago, but in the last months has become more vocal and critical of some of his PGA counterparts such as Rory McIlroy. Mickelson is one of the winners of this merger because he gets to make his cake and eat it too. He was reportedly paid $200 million to play in the Saudi-backed Tour and now will get to go back to the PGA.
Awesome day today 😊 https://t.co/qUwVJiydym
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) June 6, 2023
Greg Norman: Until recently the ‘Great White Shark’ was the CEO of a Saudi-backed golf tour that had little media coverage that was losing money every week in its attempt to create a competitive alternative to the PGA. Today he’s standing on top of the world as head of the LIV Tour that is now partnered with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Greg Norman envisioned a LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger months ago. pic.twitter.com/tGPt5hfcfF
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) June 6, 2023
Brooks Koepka and the other LIV defectors: They all are coming out on top. Just like Mickelson, they took a chance and decided to leave the PGA Tour with the negative impact on their impact on the game and their legacies. They openly chose money over fame and their place in history. Now they get to keep the money (to be seen, but finders, keepers, right?) and they will be allowed to return to the PGA Tour after the 2023 season.
Who are the losers of the merger between PGA Tour and LIV Tour?
Rory McIlroy: He stood up in a leadership role and was openly critical of those players who left the PGA Tour to take the money from the Saudi-backed tour. McIlroy was the one who PGA players looked to for guidance during the early days a year ago and even up until today. To call McIlroy a loser in this new agreement is hard to write down, but he’s definitely got egg on his face after this merger has been announced. We’re looking forward to hear what his take is on this decision.
There's so much to unpack, but the thing I keep going back to is this:
— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) June 6, 2023
Rory McIlroy took a stand for what he believed was right—which brought an invisible pain and weight that can't be measured—and was sold out by the very thing he was trying to defend
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Jay Monahan: The Commissioner of the PGA Tour, who was also very critical of the LIV Tour and of the players who chose to leave the PGA, looks like he has had to make a major compromise to partner up with the Saudi-backed tour. He has had to eat his words and is now going to have to work at the same table with his LIV counterpart Greg Norman.
Players just received this letter from Jay Monahan.
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) June 6, 2023
Via @acaseofthegolf1 pic.twitter.com/7e9lHbwQvB
All of the PGA players who turned down millions: What do guys like Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa think about this merger after turning down millions of dollars in an act of loyalty to the PGA Tour. This is the case for a lot of players who said no to the Saudi-backed tour and decided to stay in the PGA Tour.
So, you preach loyalty to a tour and convince guys not to take 8 and 9 figure deals based, in part, on that loyalty and, in part, on the source of the money. Then those guys find out on Twitter YOU took the very same money?
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) June 6, 2023
Nino Brown, “Always business, never personal.”