Stand: 07.06.2023
“This will usher in a new era in global golf – for the better,” said PGA Tour President Jay Monahan
What: pa/empics/Adam Davy
The golf world was divided for over a year. Now there is an agreement that was hardly thought possible. The PGA and the LIV Tour, financed with insane sums from Saudi Arabia, are now working together. It is hailed as a “historic day”.
DSurprisingly, the dispute between the major golf organizations PGA Tour and DP World Tour and the LIV Tour, which is financed from Saudi Arabia, has been settled. On Tuesday, the parties announced in a joint press release that they had reached a “groundbreaking agreement to unify golf” and that they would work together in the future. Accordingly, a Saudi Arabian state fund (PIF), which was previously involved in the LIV Tour, is now also a shareholder in a new joint organization.
“After two years of unrest and confusion, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” said PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan. “This will usher in a new era in global golf – for the better.” With the agreement to work together in the future, all pending legal disputes between the parties involved were also ended by mutual consent. In addition, after the 2023 season, opportunities should be created for players to return from the LIV Tour to the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour.
The LIV tournaments have been criticized since their debut in June 2022 because of the millions invested from Saudi Arabia. The background is that the country, which has been criticized for human rights violations, is trying to improve its image with lucrative sporting events. Numerous top golfers followed the call of money and switched to the competing series – including the German Martin Kaymer. Now the Saudi state fund PIF (Public Investment Fund) is part of a new company that is supposed to bundle the business of the tours. A name for the new organization, which also aims to further promote the team format introduced by the LIV Tour, is yet to be announced.
