The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf are merging their operations into a single commercial entity, according to the former. Saudi Arabia’s PIF is partnering with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour on the move.

The newly formed business — name to be determined — will be collectively owned and for-profit, and will focus on team golf and growing the game globally.

The merger allows an “end to all pending litigation between the participating parties” and opens the door for LIV players to reapply to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour following the end of the 2023 season.

Sources told Front Office Sports that all three tours are expected to finish their current seasons under the status quo.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said the goal was to “create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners, and fans.”

“We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide,” PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said.

Al-Rumayyan will be the new entity’s chairman of the board of directors, while Monahan will be CEO and also sit on the board. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was not mentioned in the release.

Golf journalist Dan Rapaport says that several PGA Tour players were “shocked … confused” and “disgusted” at the absence of communication from Tour brass regarding plans. Meanwhile, LIV’s Phil Mickelson and 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka took to social media to laud the move.

The stunning PGA Tour-LIV Golf-DP World Tour merger represents a most unlikely pairing of competing personalities, ideologies, and business models.

But the deal has raised another fundamental question: How is the golf going to work?

The union theoretically brings together the traditional large-field, cut-based competition of the PGA Tour and the small-field, no-cut tournaments of LIV Golf. Details of the future competitive format are scarce, but several key elements are in place:

• The team-based concept championed by LIV Golf will transfer to the new entity.
• Players who left the PGA Tour or DP World Tour to join LIV Golf can reapply to those tours after the 2023 season.
• The PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and DP Tour will collaborate on a “fair and objective process” for player reapplication, with existing PGA Tour rules guiding that effort.
• The remaining 2023 LIV Golf schedule is unchanged.
• Majors already allowing all qualifying players — such as the Masters — have predictably cheered the deal.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan insisted in a letter to players that the organization’s “pro-competitive model remains intact” in the new structure.

Another undetermined element is the future compensation structure. LIV Golf transformed the sport with its nine-figure player signing bonuses and $25 million tournament purses, forcing the PGA Tour to respond with unprecedented hikes in prize money, reaching $20 million for top 2023 events.

Impact To Women’s Game

The merger could also make a seismic impact on the women’s game, as LIV Golf recently expressed interest in forming its own circuit to rival the LPGA.

LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said “a fractured ecosystem is not good for the game, and we look forward to learning what today’s announcement means.”

“Nobody had a f——- clue.”

That was the reaction of one sports media executive to the stunning news of the PGA Tour-LIVE Golf merger.

The PGA Tour’s U.S. media partners CBS Sports, NBC Sports/Golf Channel, and ESPN, were as blindsided as everybody else by Tuesday’s blockbuster announcement. 

As everybody was involved financially, they were burning up the phone lines trying to get firm answers from executives at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

As of midday, there were far more questions than answers about the media implications of the mega-merger that ends golf’s civil war. Especially on the subject of whether the new super-entity will seek to renegotiate the PGA Tour’s current media rights deals. But here’s what Front Office Sports was hearing from multiple media executives Tuesday:

• The early take is that PGA Tour’s current media rights deals with NBC Sports/Golf Channel, CBS Sports and ESPN probably won’t be impacted. The PGA Tour and LIV are expected to remain separate brands. In 2020, NBC Sports/Golf Channel and CBS Sports signed contract extensions that will pay the PGA Tour $700 million per year for weekend coverage through 2030. ESPN signed a separate digital package for ESPN+, paying $75 million a year.

• If anything, CBS, NBC/Golf Channel and ESPN’s rights should be even more valuable since they will eventually be able to again cover former PGA Tour superstars  like Phil Mickelson, PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson who defected to LIV.

• But will a combined PGA Tour/LIV Golf/DP World Tour behemoth seek to negotiate the PGA Tour’s U.S. media rights deals once the dust settles? That’s the concern of TV partners. CNBC’s David Faber asked PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan the question directly – and the Commissioner danced around without giving a clear answer. “We’ve got great media partners. I know they will be excited about this announcement today. We’re going to create more value for them,” Monahan said.

• Another question revolves around LIV’s new multi-year TV/streaming deal with The CW Network. In a statement to CNBC, The CW said there would be no changes to its LIV schedule this year. “We look forward to broadcasting seven more exciting tournaments this year featuring the world’s best golfers,” said the network. But another source said the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund could simply use its petro-dollars to buy out The CW – and move LIV events to TV networks with a more established golf audiences. 

“It appears this deal was made at the top level. All the details will come in behind it,” said another source.