“The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis,” read a statement.
LIV’s poaching of players – including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and the Open champion, Cameron Smith – for tens of millions of dollars from the PGA and DP World Tours throughout 2022 led to those golfers being ostracised from their previous playing domain. That is about to change.
Given all that has transpired, which players want to take that opportunity remains to be seen. Mickelson, quite clearly, is open to re-entering the traditional tours if his response to the merger is anything to go by. “Saudi Arabia has in effect bought in to golf’s traditional ecosystem, with the PGA and DP World Tours clearly coming to the decision that they are better off accepting the Gulf nation’s massive funding as opposed to continuing to battle against it.
Intriguingly, there was no mention of the LIV commissioner and chief executive, Greg Norman, in the release. This will only fuel speculation that removal of the controversial Australian from his position was one condition of the deal.