PGA Tour announced that it will merge with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf, speaking controversy and anger from golf fans. The merger was a way to end the bitter rivalry between the two groups that sparked an antitrust lawsuit.
The deal comes after several high-profile players such as Phil Mickelson were poached by LIV Golf with lucrative monetary contracts. This caused PGA Tour to declare that players who wanted to participate in the LIV league were no longer eligible for PGA Tour events. Mickelson and other golfers filed an antitrust lawsuit last year against the PGA Tour, causing the organization of running an illegal monopoly.
With the recent merger, all pending and ongoing litigation between the two golfing groups effectively came to an end. “After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in the statement.
Who owns PGA Tour?
The PGA Tour is a nonprofit, so it doesn’t have an owner. Following the merger on Tuesday, the group said it will remain a tax-exempt organization. Jay Monahan, the current commissioner of the organizer, is to continue and Ed Herlihy will remain as PGA Tour Policy Board chairman after the merger.
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PGA Tour is the organizer of professional golf tours in the US and North America. Apart from its flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, it organizes PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and formerly the PGA Tour China.
The PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb southeast of Jacksonville. It is established by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America.
The recent merger has golf fans angry. Here are some of the reactions:
