The PGA LIVs On

No one saw this one coming, and if they say otherwise they are lying, so for those a little late to the news, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have announced that they will be merging into one global golf entity.

If you've keep up with golf at all you have most certainly heard the back and forth between players over the last year and a half, and even from the commissioner, Jay Monahan himself, who has condemned the LIV Tour and anyone's participation in the league. For those less familiar, LIV Golf is financially backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, an entity controlled by the Saudi crown prince, and thus, has caused some controversy over the intentions of the foreign financier. Regardless of your stance, the news shared on CNBC yesterday was shocking to say the least, and leaves players and fans alike with a lot of follow up questions. I myself have a few theories as to what happened, why it did, and what we can expect going forward.

1. A Line in the Sandtrap

When LIV was first announced their inaugural tournament for June of 2022, many people, Monahan included, scoffed at the thought of another golf league coming onto the scene to challenge the market ownership of the PGA Tour. Other leagues do already exist of course, but they have seemingly accepted their places in golf as stepping stones to the PGA Tour. LIV Golf on the other hand has refused to accept this reality, and instead, has continued to challenge the PGA Tour by making aggressive moves to take players, scheduling simultaneous tournaments, and injecting huge prize pools into the game to build hype. As they did so, PGA Tour representatives began to condemn the new league by suspending players from tournaments, downplaying their new events, and went so far as to associate the league itself with the attacks on 9/11. Press rooms at tour events began to feel more like media stops on a presidential campaign, and from what we were being told as fans, we had a choice to make, either stand with those for LIV Golf, or those for the PGA, with no middle ground to speak of.

2. What Changed?

With all the bad blood between the two sides it is pretty insane to think that all of a sudden they are just "ok", so what happened? Well, for starters, the insane amount of money that has been injected into the game of golf from the Saudi's is simply too much to ignore, especially for those tasked with bringing money into the game from the PGA Tour side. Additionally, the LIV Tour has implemented some modern ideas into competitive golf, such as the ability to wear shorts and team play, both of which have been received well amongst the global patrons of the game, and the players. Basically, the LIV Tour was designed to be more fun for fans with a more relaxed environment, and more enjoyable for players with less events and more guaranteed money. And while this all sounds great, putting up a bunch of money does not equal a good product, and LIV has failed to capture the audience that it had predicted just a year ago. At the same time, the PGA has adjusted things in their game too and have implemented many of the same ideas as LIV, like elevated purses, guaranteed money, and allowing players to wear shorts, in practice rounds. So while LIV was not able to overtake the PGA, they were able to make a large enough impact to make the tour change, so much so that we are now living in a world where these two competing league, will now become one...

3. The Announcement

Before getting into my thoughts on what will happen, I think it makes sense to discuss the reactions a bit too. First and foremost, it seems like this announcement came completely out of the blue for most people involved, particularly the players from the PGA Tour. Based on the reactions, I think it's possible that the LIV players had some sort of idea, as their reactions on Twitter have been much more jovial, but the amount of surprise from guys like Colin Morikawa and Joel Dahmen cannot go overlooked.

I think the biggest question right now is for Rory McIlroy, who has been the spokesperson for the PGA, from the players' side, and has found himself at the heart of several discussions and lawsuits associated with this whole mess. I feel bad for him because he was the one carrying the torch for golf legacy, defending greatness over prize money, and Jay Monahan just went ahead and decided that all that no longer matters...

4. The Future of Golf

Going forward, a lot is going to change for golf, even more-so then we have already seen, and while it won't happen until next year, there is a lot more drama on the horizon. Along with the badmouthing in post-round interviews, there have been a number of lawsuits filed between LIV and PGA tour players, and these guys are now going to have to play together in tournaments for hours at a time. They went from coworkers, to enemies, and now back to coworkers, and the guys on the PGA Tour that were considered the "good guys", are now just the idiots that kept their jobs for less money. My guess is that we will see more money across all prize pools, obviously, and that the money will do a lot for the younger players trying to establish themselves on the tour. Hopefully some of that money trickles down into the Korn Ferry, DP World Tour, and mini tours as well, since a lot of those players have tour level skills but are often prevented from achieving their goals due to final hurdles. The game of golf is expensive, takes a lot of time to maintain a high level of play, and often sees only the top players with winning results. So the more opportunities that younger players have to win substantial prizes, the more they can put back into their own game and growth. Beyond the money, I do hope that the merge with LIV will bring over a bigger commitment to implementing team golf in some capacity. While I don't think the LIV model has worked on its own, I do think that there is some form of team golf, sprinkled throughout the PGA Tour season, that could be successful and exciting for the fans. The Ryder Cup and President's Cup are two of the most exciting events that golf has to offer and I refuse to think that the sheer scarcity of these events is the main reason they are successful.

If more details come out, as there has been an extreme lack of them to this point, I believe we will see that the decision to merge came from the impending lawsuits. The PGA Tour tried to take a moral high-ground in this battle, but they weren't really validated in doing so, and it became a battle in which no one would come out a winner. Jay Monahan decided to cut his losses, take the money, and merge, though I think he will end up getting even more backlash from this decision than he has already. While I didn't take a hard stance on LIV, I will admit that I was not a fan, and I certainly did not see it surviving very long, let alone merging with the PGA. I very curious to see what else changes, and to see how the players go about discussing the decision in the media, but one thing is certain, the game of golf is not going to look the same going forward.