By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)
The PGA Tour ended its costly battle with Saudi Arabia’s golf enterprise and now could be becoming a member of forces with it, making a shocking announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a business operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.
As a part of the deal, the edges instantly are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf.
From the golf aspect, nonetheless to be decided is how gamers like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson can rejoin the PGA Tour after defecting final 12 months for signing bonuses reported to be within the $150 million vary.
From the business aspect, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of administrators and leads the brand new enterprise enterprise as chairman, although the PGA Tour may have a majority stake.
And from a participant aspect, most have been bewildered by the surprising turnaround. It didn’t assist {that a} information outlet broke the embargoed announcement earlier than PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan might ship a memo to the gamers. Most realized of the event on social media.
“I love finding out about morning news on Twitter,” two-time main champion Collin Morikawa tweeted.
Not many have been completely satisfied. Wesley Bryan tweeted, “I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.”
Byeong Hun An added on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”
The announcement comes a 12 months after LIV Golf started. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was on the Canadian Open that week and mentioned pointedly about any participant who joined LIV or was interested by it: “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”
Now they’re companions, giving Saudi Arabia a business voice in golf’s premier group.
“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan mentioned in a cellphone interview with The Associated Press.
“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”
Monahan was headed to Toronto to satisfy with gamers. And whereas this possible will solely result in better riches in golf, there nonetheless was explaining to do on why the tour would merge with a bunch that attempted to remove a number of the PGA Tour’s finest gamers and was seen as the most recent instance of “sportswashing.”
“I understand the criticism,” Monahan mentioned. “For me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interests. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.”
The deal was within the works for the final seven weeks, when Monahan first met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF. Players sometimes approve modifications to the schedule and different competitors issues. On this one, they have been disregarded.
“No one had word of this,” Monahan mentioned. “Our players expect us to operate in the best interests of the tour.”
Instead, he cited steering from company members of the PGA Tour board.
Still, Monahan has his hardest work forward of him.
He sought loyalty from his gamers in opposition to a league accused of participating in sportswashing, an try by Saudi Arabia to shift focus away from its human rights abuses, such because the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Now the very group that posed such a risk is now the PGA Tour’s business associate.
Along the best way, PGA Tour gamers additionally bought wealthy. The tour raised prize cash at elite occasions to $20 million, the identical purse for LIV’s particular person competitors. The 2024 schedule has been reshaped for roughly 16 tournaments like that.
“In the short term, I expect a lot of questions and criticism,” Monahan mentioned. “In the long run, players who stayed with the PGA Tour will see they benefited in many ways.”
The settlement combines the Public Investment Fund’s golf-related business companies and rights — together with LIV Golf — with these of the PGA and European excursions. The new entity has not been named.
Al-Rumayyan will be part of the board of the PGA Tour, which continues to operates its tournaments. The PIF will spend money on the business enterprise.
“From the very beginning, the whole initiative was how to grow the game of golf,” Al-Rumayyan mentioned. “And I think what was achieved today was exactly that.”
As for the brand new position of Greg Norman, Al-Rumayyan mentioned solely that Norman is LIV Golf’s commissioner and particulars of his future position can be introduced within the coming weeks.
Monahan’s memo to gamers indicated a powerful Saudi Arabian presence. He mentioned PIF would make a monetary funding to grow to be a “premier corporate sponsor” of the PGA Tour, the European tour and different worldwide excursions.
Monahan mentioned the merger got here collectively the final seven weeks, with PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne liable for bringing collectively Monahan and Al-Rumayyan. Dunne and Ed Herlihy, chairman of the PGA Tour’s board, will serve on the board of the business enterprise.
Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau have been amongst 11 gamers who filed an antitrust lawsuit in opposition to the PGA Tour final August. LIV joined as plaintiffs, and the PGA Tour countersued.
The concern for PIF was whether or not its leaders may very well be deposed, which Saudi Arabia needed to keep away from. A federal decide had dominated the PIF couldn’t declare immunity from the Foreign Service Immunity Act due to its business work with LIV Golf within the U.S.
The PIF appealed the ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was prone to lengthen the lawsuit deep into 2024 if not longer.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Source: www.bostonherald.com”