PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce newly formed commercial entity to unify golf
Yeah people are making huge assumptions here
Sounds to me like the Saudis are paying the PGA to make the disaster of LIV go away
LIV failed to get a competitive TV broadcast deal in the United States. That was the ballgame.
Jay Monahan of the PGA is going to be the boss of this new entity. That means LIV is being absorbed, nothing less. It lasted less that the length of Greg Norman's first morning fart.
I think sports organisations generally do underestimate the extent to which sports washing matters to ordinary people. And if it wasn't a high profile issue until recent times, well all the towel heads can thank UEFA and Qatar '22 for shining the shame lamp right in their faces. And that included the model behind LIV.
The Saudis are saying today that they look forward to investing much more into golf, but what hasn't been picked up on yet, is that if the new joint commercial body is registered in the US or UK or EU, which it will, then the regulatory environment will greatly affect the ability to freely move large sums through it from outside those territories.
I think it's more likely that PIF decided to stop going after the players and went for the top brass execs instead
This reads like whopper pay offs to PGA and DP World Tour officials "In addition, PIF will make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success."
Genius move really
Well they were/are on the right side either way. And I'm sure they'll survive with the pittance they've earned. Wonder will the players who signed up be eligible for the big sign on fees....would assume so once it wasn't based off future earnings for them.
Comparison to other sports doesn't quite work, Saudis just invested in them, didn't start up competing ventures
Rory left with a lot of egg on the face over this one. And then the players who refused Millions upon Millions to join up believing they were on the right side of some moral crusade. I bet they are counting the cost of it now.
I've always argued that if footballers, Horse racing and F1 drivers take the Saudi money then why should golfers be treated any differently. LIV have thrown some money at the PGA over this.
Can't wait to hear what Saint Rory has to say on this. Squirming and back tracking will be the order of the day. Or he'll probably just refuse to give interviews on it.
My take would be different.
Although I'm aware LIV was shaped as one big sportswash for the Saudi techno-royals, I suspect its complete lack of any commercial traction has demonstrated that even the Sheiks won't throw good money after bad.
I think this "merger" is just a mechanism to get some of the bigger names back under the main Tours' umbrella while saving a bit of face for them and dispensing with any major circus around the readmission process. It also means the Ryder Cup headache can be mostly avoided, apart from damage already done obviously.
If LIV had any real merits to the game, to the demands of golf fans, it would have caught on. And it did not.
My prediction would be that by next Spring, the PGA and DP calendars will be back more or less as they always were; almost entirely singles stroke-play events for the main men's tours, with a traditional sprinkling of matchplay and team competitions.
And Europe has the Double Penetration
Weren't Phil and Rory at a champions dinner at the USPGA? Lot of that will be overblown. I think he'll have more of a bone to pick with Jay though, the man constantly hid behind the players and has now sold them down a river.
I'm glad they both saw fit and decided to grow the game globally... very admirable.
On a selfish level, delighted that we'll be seeing the best players competing more often.
Bet he feels like a F'ing idiot now. Should be fun when/if he meets up with Phil or Sergio next.
Just shows though, all the same, money trumps everything these days and if you've enough of it, a way will be found for you. Honestly I've no strong feelings either way on LIV golf or the Saudi angle, but its kinda sickening to read that statement from Monahan, given all that's been said before.
Rory McIlroy's next interview will be interesting. LOL at the people who think there's morals in Golf.
That's what I take out of this. A load of players made truck loads of cash signing for LIV. Were minority inconvenienced for a year and now get to carry on like nothing ever happened. Win-win for them.
How are they going to square this with the players who didn't join and didn't get the big pay off? How about the players who didn't want the blood money? Are they now forced to take it with no other option available?
PGA also seem to be taking on the team golf aspect.
Honestly think I'll delete the PGA app. Not to make a stand or that it'll make a difference, just not interested in this sh*te.
This pretty much sums it up. I'd say PGA will be heralded as the "face" but behind the scenes it'll be LIV & Co running the show.
PGA have the history.
LIV have the world class investing.
wwn
By all accounts the player's didn't know about it coming either. Jay is going to sit in a room with them and explain how the Saudi's made him a billionaire and sure what else was he supposed to do....
So that's why Rory stopped talking about LIV around about a month ago. He probably got wind of what was coming down the road.
One thing for sure is European tour will be even less as a result of it
Think Brooks winning the PGA was the beginning of the end for the PGA tour.
This is what I'm thinking aswell, wonder did Koepka winning the PGA have an impact on the top players' perception of LIV
So the Saudis now own golf.. disgusting move by the PGA and DP tour...
Don't think it's that easy. LIV wasn't going to last, but pga didn't have the pockets to drag it out long term. Of course, won't know for sure until more details emerge, like how season is structured or if there's any other changes
Ya it’s kinda vile to be honest.
If I was to take a genuine guess at how this has happened, my assumption is that a couple more top brass players have said they’ll be jumping ship. PGA had to act
Saudi win wow 😮😮
Nothing will change but everything will change in the end. Money trumps everything
The moral of the story here is if you ever get the chance to make easy money, snap it up. The bank balance will ease the possibility of any consequences.
been a while since a sports story nearly knocked me over. first I'd to check the whatsapp group image to see if I'd see something obscene when I clicked in, then I double-checked it wasn't april 1st.
This feels so slimy, I don't like it. Seems quite vague as to what this actually means for the players, are they going to have 200 players at each event now they've combined 3 tours?
Great move for Thomas pieters, just moved over and now gets paid out and straight back into all your events.
Ryder cup will be a shitshow, so many dynamics between the players
Did anyone expect this? I certainly didn't. It'll be great to have all the best players playing the same tournaments again.
Interesting to see the impact on the Ryder cup, will Mickelson/Poulter etc get to be captain now I wonder.
What a joke.
PGA weak pussies
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