THE RANCOROUS SPLIT in professional golf appears to have come to an abrupt end today with the bombshell announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.

The shock merger offers a path back to the Ryder Cup and other major PGA Tour events for those who joined the LIV Tour last year, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson.

How those players who resisted LIV’s overtures and remained loyal to the PGA Tour will receive this news is unknown, with players indicating today that they were unaware of the merger until it was announced.

Collin Morikawa tweeted, “I love finding out morning news on Twitter.”

PGA Tour member Mackenzie Hughes tweeted, “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”

A meeting took place between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, after which it was announced that all of the PIF’s golf-related businesses and rights – including LIV golf – would merge with the PGA and DP World Tours into a new, collectively owned, for profit-entity.

The title of this new entity has yet to be announced, but PIF will invest in it and retain exclusive rights to investment. PIF Governer Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be the Chairman of the new entity, with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan serving as CEO.

The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the Board and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity.

The merger brings to an end all litigation between the parties, as LIV and the PGA Tours had been embroiled in antitrust suits.

All three parties will work together to set up a process to allow for LIV players to reapply for membership to the DP World and PGA Tours. LIV players had to resign from those tours to join the Saudi-breakaway tour last year.

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “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.

“We are pleased to move forward, in step with LIV and PIF’s world-class investing experience, and I applaud PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for his vision and collaborative and forward-thinking approach that is not just a solution to the rift in our game, but also a commitment to taking it to new heights. This will engender a new era in global golf, for the better.”

“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” said PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. “We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide. We are committed to unifying, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and offering the highest-quality product to the many millions of long-time fans globally, while cultivating new fans.

“There is no question that the LIV model has been positively transformative for golf. We believe there are opportunities for the game to evolve while also maintaining its storied history and tradition. This partnership represents the best opportunity to extend and increase the impact of golf for all. We look forward to collaborating with Jay and Keith to bring the best version of the game to communities around the world.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the DP World Tour, said “This is a momentous day. We are delighted to be able to not only reignite our relationship with PIF, but also to have the opportunity to build on our current Strategic Alliance partnership with the PGA Tour. Together we will be stronger than ever and well positioned to continue to bring the game to all corners of the globe.”

Written by Gavin Cooney and posted on the42.ie