PGA Tour to Merge with Controversial, Saudi-Backed LIV Golf in Surprise Move

The agreement will end the ongoing litigation between the competitors, which began last year

The PGA Tour and its Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf have agreed to merge.

The deal, which was announced Tuesday and is not yet definitive, comes amid ongoing litigation between the competitors, who had both filed lawsuits against the other, per the Washington Post.

A statement announcing the merger on the PGA Tour website read, “The parties have signed an agreement that combines the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) 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.”

Confirming the deal will end the litigation between the rivals, the release continued, “Today’s announcement will be followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties.”

LIV Golf is a breakaway league almost entirely funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund that makes investments on behalf of Saudi Arabia, per ESPN. 

Related: PGA Tour Suspends 17 Golfers, Including Phil Mickelson, for Participating in LIV Golf Tournament

LIV Golf had lured away players including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Cameron Smith from the PGA Tour with incentives including larger paychecks and a smaller tour schedule.

According to CNBC, the agreement calls for the PIF to invest billions of dollars into the new entity over time.

In August, LIV Golf filed an antitrust suit against the PGA Tour — who banned players who had defected to LIV — saying the tour organizer was intentionally trying to curtail competition, per the Washington Post.

Related: Tiger Woods Criticizes LIV Golf Players Who 'Turned Their Back' on PGA Tour

In June 2022, the PGA Tour suspended 17 golfers who appeared in the rival LIV Golf Invitational Series in England that same month.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced the news in a memo. "We have followed the Tournament Regulations from start to finish in responding to those players who have decided to turn their backs on the PGA Tour by willfully violating a regulation," Monahan wrote in the memo, which was obtained by multiple outlets and reviewed by PEOPLE.

The PGA Tour also countered LIV Golf’s antitrust suit with a lawsuit that claimed LIV Golf committed “tortious interference” by encouraging players to violate the terms of their existing tour contracts, per the Washington Post. According to CNBC, they also claimed LIV Golf was stifling competition.

Tuesday’s statement announcing the merger confirmed that golfers would be able to “re-apply” for membership with the PGA Tour.

“The three organizations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA TOUR or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission, consistent with each Tour’s policies,” read the release.

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Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Monahan said “the game of golf is better off for what we’ve done today.”

He said, “I think today is a historical day for the PGA Tour and the game of golf, and it’s a historical day for the PIF and DP World Tour PGA.”

“You’re right, there’s been a lot of tension in our sport over the last couple of years. But what we’re talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf and to do so under one umbrella. The way that we’re doing that is we’re creating a for-profit LLC that the PIF is going to invest in alongside the DP World Tour, and together we’re going to move forward and were going to take efforts to grow and expand this great game and to take it to new heights.”

He continued, “We’ve recognized that together we can have a far greater impact on this game than we can working apart.”

Appearing alongside Monhan, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan added that the merger will be “investing in the growth of the game of golf,” and he thinks will result in “better engagement from the players, the fans, the broadcasters, the sponsors, everyone else, and hopefully to give better access for more and more people to the game of golf.”

LIV Golf has been criticized for working with Saudi Arabia. The country has long been condemned for human rights abuses.

Critics of LIV have also accused the PIF of “sportswashing” by using the league to distract from the country’s history of human rights violations, per CNBC.

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