PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla — Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour speaks to the media in a press conference prior to THE PLAYERS Championship on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 07, 2023. | Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
The two rival tours, along with the DP World Tour, have agreed to form a new commercial entity and end all pending litigation.
In a shocking turn of events, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) have announced a landmark agreement to unify men’s professional golf, per release.
Tuesday’s announcement comes less than a week before the U.S. Open, where 18 Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour players have qualified.
“Today is a momentous day for your organization and the game of golf as a whole,” the official statement reads. “Through a framework agreement, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is contributing its golf-related commercial business and rights (including LIV Golf), along with a significant financial investment, toward minority equity ownership of a new, collectively held, for-profit LLC. This new entity (name TBD) will also include the PGA Tour’s commercial businesses and rights, as well as those of the DP World Tour.”
Since LIV Golf’s inception, the PIF has invested almost $1 billion into LIV Golf.
It remains unclear how much money PIF will invest into this new entity that includes the PGA Tour.
Yet, on CNBC Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan noted that “billions will be invested” into this new entity in the future.
Furthermore, all pending litigation between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will end.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said.
“This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, legacy, and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV — including the team golf concept — to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners, and fans. 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.”
