Note: This story was updated June 7, 2023, to add a statement from the Frisco-based PGA of America.
In a move that stunned the sports world today, The PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced that they’re merging globally with Europe’s DP World Tour, ending a bitter rivalry that’s flared since LIV Golf was founded in 2021 and launched in 2022, luring away some of the PGA’s top golfers.
The agreement ends all pending litigation among the parties. It combines LIV Golf and other commercial golf-related businesses and rights of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour “into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players,” the organizations said in a collective statement Tuesday.
The Saudis’ PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity, alongside the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the DP World Tour.
Ending two years of ‘disruption and distraction’
“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. “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.”
In an interview with CNBC, Monahan acknowledged that “There’s been a lot of tension in our sport for the last couple of years. But what we’re talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf and to do so under one umbrella,” he told the business network. “Together, we’re going to move forward and we’re going to take efforts to grow and expand this great game and take it to new heights.”
The PGA Tour is based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the PGA Tour is the world’s leading organization for touring professional golfers. The Tour has a local presence in North Texas through its tournaments played here, including the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney and the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club.
Statement from Frisco-based PGA of America
Since 1968, the PGA Tour has been fully independent of the PGA of America, which moved its headquarters to Frisco last year and is an organization of golf club and teaching professionals nationwide, with nearly 29,000 members.
Late Wednesday, the PGA of America released this statement about the merger:
“We were pleased, relieved and like others, surprised to learn this morning that the division within the men’s elite professional game appears to be on a pathway to resolution,” the statement read. “While we look forward to learning further details in time, our actions will, as always, remain focused on delivering on our mission to serve PGA Professionals and grow the game. During this time of abundant opportunity in golf, we look forward to collaborating with other golf industry leaders to continue to advance our sport with our members at the forefront of those efforts.”
Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.
Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.
R E A D N E X T
-
If you think it's just an office building, better tee up another ball. The new PGA of America headquarters aims to be a "first-of-its-kind" golf laboratory and a destination for the future of golf, with indoor training facilities, driving range simulators, state-of-the-art education facilities, a video studio, and more. Take a look inside. The new HQ is just part of the new 660-acre PGA Frisco campus. Two championship golf courses, a new 510-room Omni Resort, a performance center, and other attractions are expected to drive $2.5 billion in economic impact over the next 20 years.
-
Four years in the making, the Home of PGA of America opened its doors for a "Welcome Home Celebration" on Monday. The state-of-the-art building at PGA Frisco is a symbol of the future of the organization and the game of golf.
-
Trick Rider will pay homage to a legendary woman trick rider from the 1940s and '50s. Its spirit will be encapsulated in an astonishing light sculpture suspended over the bar: a 16-foot-long, nine-foot-high crystal horse chandelier made from 4,075 "bohemian cut" crystal beads.
-
From Topgolf to Puttery, Electric Shuffle, TOCA Social, Two Bit Circus and more, North Texas may be America's greatest high-tech playground. Check out this roundup of who's playing what where.
-
Joining Elysian Park Ventures—the private investment arm of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ownership group—PGA of America has formed EP Golf Ventures, LLC. Its first two investments include mobile golf simulator Dryvebox and 3D motion-capture coaching app startup Sportsbox AI. “Through EP Golf Ventures, we'll be able to identify and invest in the most promising businesses within the golf industry to support both innovation and the growth of the game,” says PGA CEO Seth Waugh.
