PGA Tour and LIV Golf merge!!

[jdrobbo]

Absolutely incredible. Did not see this coming as quickly as it has. I thought they’d sort it out eventually but not for the next couple of years at least. Literally no one knew about it.

[Taffy on the wing]

What's McIlroy going to talk about now?..........Hopefully he will now concentrate on his game more, he should be winning more often than he does. Massively talented.

[claretonthecoast1882]

Proper cave in job by the PGA

[jdrobbo]

Proper cave in job by the PGA

It does appear as though the Saudi contingent will be by FAR the happier party here.

[bobinho]

[jrgbfc]

Does this mean all the Europeans will be eligible for the Ryder cup team? Although apart from maybe Garcia not sure any of the others would make it anyway.

[Lancasterclaret]

A bunch of bloodthirsty old men, with lots of money and outdated ideas..... and they've sold out to the Saudis

[FCBurnley]

No shock here. The only surprise is it is a merger and not a 100% takeover. Trump advised all the players to take the money before it was too late. Matsuyama for example turned down $300 million. PGA had no product without the players. Great day for golf

[aclaretinstevenage]

I'm guessing Sky had a lot to do with this. Their editorial has - to me - been getting closer to supporting all things LIV this year as opposed to promoting the up and coming players.

[Casper2]

No shock here. The only surprise is it is a merger and not a 100% takeover. Trump advised all the players to take the money before it was too late. Matsuyama for example turned down $300 million. PGA had no product without the players. Great day for golf

And murderous regimes

[CrosspoolClarets]

Very hard to see who has collapsed like Arsenal here, the truth will leak out, but all parties had a lot to lose. LIV may have had their players threatened to leave if they couldn’t get in majors, PGA Tour no longer had all the best players and the European Tour as it was are imploding fast but have some great tournaments.

The ideal would be if there is a genuine world tour with the premium PGA Tour events being added to a few LIV events and some European Tour ones like Wentworth, Dubai and the Scottish and Irish Opens. I’m sceptical this will happen though and I’m not convinced I want to watch golf during the day anyway, evenings for the PGA Tour works fine.

[rufus lumley]

Always think Tee time is the beat time to watch.

[jdrobbo]

Guardian piece by Ewan Murray:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/ ... di-victory

[CrosspoolClarets]

That Guardian piece is really good. Murray doesn’t hide his disgust. Not convinced this will go well in the traditional golf clubs of the world where all this talent originates. Buying this sport may not be as easy as football. There will be a roller coaster ride for the next 2-3 years.

Not sure the fans will like it either. The First Amendment in the US makes it easy for shall we say displeasure to be vented during US tournaments and the hosting course may struggle to stamp it out.

[Burnley Ace]

Those top players that stayed loyal have been absolutely shafted!! Mickleson is ******* himself!

[claretonthecoast1882]

It does appear as though the Saudi contingent will be by FAR the happier party here.

For probably the first time I feel sorry for Rory.

He was made the spokesperson for non LIV golfers and bigging up the PGA & European tour and stayed loyal when you could have taken 100s millions. Then behind his back the bosses are bribed and they bend over.

[RicardoMontalban]

The complete volte-face by the execs is as spectacular as it is grubby.

[The Hung Juror]

I find how sport and those in positions of power in sport are being bought by money and the super rich, thoroughly depressing. Even more so when its by a regime as despicable and contemptable as that in Saudi Arabia.

A small crumb of comfort therefore on hearing the news this morning, that Juventus have signalled an intention to quit the European Super League project. Albeit, they are not in a position of strength at the moment.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Which sport will they come for next?

[Big Vinny K]

Fishing ?

[Belgianclaret]

Money over morals nowadays.

Wonder what Rory and Tiger will have to say on this, as well as all other PGA players who refused previous LIV offers.

After football, they are now ruining the game of golf....

[jos]

I have to admit being conflicted about this, on the one hand it sounds like the DP and PGA have sold out, and their is certainly a moral aspect with human rights etc, however The UK government sells weapons and military aircraft to SA and many of those working in the North West of England (me included) will have benefited from the engineering works that employ many of us in the region.

[alboclaret]

Hideous.

Can't believe how the dogs have shafted the players. Young ones more so. Rory yes but he's plenty anyway.
Stinks. They must have been backed into a corner or been offered individual deals. It willall be corrupt and will Come out at some point

[CrosspoolClarets]

Morals are one thing, and personally I feel far happier with our football club being owned by some wall street bankers than what Newcastle have. That’s my personal choice. Watching golf funded from Saudi sources would make me feel the same way as if I was watching Newcastle.

The second thing is imagining what the world will look like in our kids and grandkids era with countries like Saudi and China dominant. It may look and feel very different. These things are just creeping towards that eventuality and it feels like state owned sport should be banned, too much ability for states to influence impressionable young watchers due to utterances from their heroes who are in the paycheck of those states. It’ll be subtle, but it will have a creeping effect on people’s beliefs and viewpoints. Not for the better.

These things far outweigh the benefits to me - which are getting away from that stuffy attitude in places like the Butler Cabin from a load of rich middle aged white men and making it more modern for a new worldwide younger audience.

[Stockbrokerbelt]

The Saudi’s are buying the F1 business not a team the business, they are & will buy footballl, that’s where the super league will take off, as for the golf I think you will find the PGA had the upper hand because of the broadcasting rights around golf, the LIV could simply not get a major TV network to agree to a deal. Actually going to watch an LIV tournament down the road at Valderrama who are actually giving tickets away free due to the lack of sales. Think that says everything about why they have merged & why Greg Norman did not know about the deal.

[boyyanno]

No shock here. The only surprise is it is a merger and not a 100% takeover. Trump advised all the players to take the money before it was too late. Matsuyama for example turned down $300 million. PGA had no product without the players. Great day for golf

In what way is it a great day for Golf?

[Big Vinny K]

No shock here. The only surprise is it is a merger and not a 100% takeover. Trump advised all the players to take the money before it was too late. Matsuyama for example turned down $300 million. PGA had no product without the players. Great day for golf

What a ridiculous thing to say.
You clearly have very little knowledge of how the tours operate and what has happened in the last couple of years.

The likes of Rory and Tiger have been sh-it on from high by Jay Monahan. He has gone behind all the players back and taken blood money with this merger. This is the same Jay Monahan who has refused to recognise or even talk to LIV for 2 years and has been asking the likes of Rory and Tiger to act as spokesmen for the PGA tour and speak out against LIV.

Tiger Woods transformed the PGA tour in the same way that Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus did before them. These are the people that made the tour players of today multi millionaires by increasing the world wide appeal, sponsorship and prize money. You make the cut now in most PGA events and you are a very rich man….even if you finish 50th every week and never win an event in your career. And that is largely down to Tiger and also players like Rory.

The duplicitous way that the merger has been done without involving the players is clear to see. The news came as a complete shock to everyone yesterday with not even a hint in the game or the media this was afoot.

30 pieces of silver for Monahan and I hope he gets the bullet and that LIV players continue to get flack every single week for years to come.