PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced a merger Tuesday, a move former President Donald Trump predicted back in July.
The PGA Tour agreed to merge with rival LIV Golf to form a new company that would include the European PGA Tour. LIV Golf is funded by Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund which is chaired by the Saudi crown prince. LIV Golf and PGA Tour have been entrenched in bitter antitrust lawsuits since last year, with Tuesday’s deal ending all litigation. (RELATED: PGA Championship Suffers Massive Decline In TV Ratings, Drops To 15-Year Low)
Trump predicted the merger in July, posting on Truth Social:
“All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year. If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were. Good luck to all, and congratulations to really talented Cam Smith on his incredible WIN!”
Trump did, however, call the merger “great news” in a Truth Social post Tuesday.
“GREAT NEWS FROM LIV GOLF. A BIG, BEAUTIFUL, AND GLAMOROUS DEAL FOR THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF. CONGRATS TO ALL!!!”
PGA Tour said in a statement they will collectively work “in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission, consistent with each Tour’s policies.”
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan welcomed the news, calling it a “historic day for the game.”
“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.”
Not everyone was happy about the merger, with Canadian professional golfer Mackenzie Hughes tweeting he found out about the news via Twitter.
Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.
— Mackenzie Hughes (@MacHughesGolf) June 6, 2023