TORONTO, ONTARIO - JUNE 06: Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, arrives to a players meeting prior to the RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf & Country Club on June 06, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario. on Tuesday morning, and it seems that the sport's biggest names were just as stunned by the move as the rest of the golf world was.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund director Yasir Al-Rumayyan made the announcement in a joint appearance on CNBC on Tuesday morning, which officially ended a contentious battle between the longstanding golf league and the controversial startup., this deal was done in near-total secrecy. Very, very few people knew it was even being discussed ahead of time, and many golfers learned of the decision on social media.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who reportedly won’t have a place in the new league, apparently learned of the merger in a phone call just before the announcement.. McIlroy has been perhaps the biggest opponent of LIV Golf since before its inception. Players, Monahan said, weren't involved in these talks because the deal with LIV Golf is simply a"framework agreement.