Brooks playing well in the first 2 majors helped drive this as well. PGAT guys saw him free wheeling on LIV making huge money then coming over to their tour and spanking guys. Players were already complaining about the schedule leading up to the Masters. This looks like a huge win for LIV IMO. No TV ratings, playing some questionable tour level courses, and no real revenue stream we know of and now they are partnered with the major tours and have a head seat at the table. Greg Norman has his revenge.

so when does China buy the NBA outright?

Wondering if our Anti-LIV crowd will now boycott the PGAT as they did LIV.

This is going to piss off every single PGA Tour player that stuck around. This news changes everything for golf

Legal Custodian said:

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Yeah, LIV absolutely just won this battle. They pretty much just bought the PGA and have the right of first refusal for any additional capital contributions. Saudi owns the PGA now

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Kind of hard not to see it that way.

(1) Under the terms of the agreement, the Board of Directors of the new entity will oversee and direct all the new entity's golf-related commercial operations, businesses and investments.

(2) PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity, alongside the PGA TOUR, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA TOUR, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.

(3) The Board of Directors of the new commercial entity will include Al-Rumayyan as Chairman and Monahan as Chief Executive Officer.

If there's a saving grace, it's this: "The PGA TOUR will appoint a majority of the Board and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity."

Additionally, it carves out the PGA TOUR for controlling everything about its own events, i.e., the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other "inside the ropes" responsibilities. BUT, PIF's Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the PGA TOUR Policy Board.

So essentially, if the PGA TOUR wants more money, it has to come from PIF. What happens when the PGA TOUR wants to do something that the PIF doesn't like? Where do their investments come from?

JP_Losman said:

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this is a mercy killing of LIV.

They were circling the drain to PGAT bailed out so they could bring back a few star players
and wash this down the drain

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YOU CANT BE SERIOUS

Hope Netflix happened to be doing some of the in home style interviews with players today. If not they better get the cameras rolling!

Phil is probably parked at the higher rollers room at the Bellagio as we speak.

JP_Losman said:

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You hear that flushing sound? That is PGA flushing the LIV turd down the toilet.

They aired Dawson's Creek reruns instead of the LIV finish the other day on CW network

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And?? By all accounts they just got the tour to agree to a merger with them controlling the investment money and their guy at the top of the board, Monahan second. great job negotiating by the turd I guess.

TresPuertas said:

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LIV just pulled this off by having nothing more than a TV contract with the CW.

This needs to be studied and taught in all business schools and universities for a long time. This is really an incredible story

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That'll be a short class. They have an endless pile of cash and leveraged it to become the principal financial backer of golf.

If you have a bottomless pit of money, you too can do something like this.

JP_Losman said:

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You hear that flushing sound? That is PGA flushing the LIV turd down the toilet.

They aired Dawson's Creek reruns instead of the LIV finish the other day on CW network

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Unbelievable. @realDonaldTrump predicted the LIV-PGA merger last year:

"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’… pic.twitter.com/lMzMV6ZlGl

— Tim Meads (@TimMeadsUSA) June 6, 2023

I get the desire by LIV fans to celebrate but the lack of discussion about what this means for actual golf by y'all is curious to say the least. Seems y'all like dunking on Chamblee more than actual golf.

I've gotta say that the economic layout of the merger and the accent of a Saudi to the board, says anything but flushing the turd.

If LIV was really in that bad of shape, no way this merger happens. But it did. Think about that for a minute.

JP_Losman said:

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You hear that flushing sound? That is PGA flushing the LIV turd down the toilet.

They aired Dawson's Creek reruns instead of the LIV finish the other day on CW network

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I don't think the saudis care. hell, as calculated as they are, this could have all been by design without caring how popular or not the actual LIV tour was. This could have been a trojan horse all along.

Your PGA boner is showing PS

Phil Mickelson walking up to his tee at the US Open… @PhilMickelson pic.twitter.com/Qd1EkZ7QD2

— BeatinTheBookie.com®️ (@BeatinTheBookie) June 6, 2023

Sheikh Mansour owns Manchester City football club. He has invested more than $3.5B in the club, won 6 of the last 7 Premier League titles, and club payroll exceeded $1B this past season (another championship).

If you think LIV was circling the drain I would counter with the idea that Middle East money is heavily invested in professional golf, the money will stay and grow, and this is a huge surrender by the PGA Tour because it knows it can't keep pace.

Side note - with this merger news, will # of required events by PGA pros change? Brooks is not going to play 20+ events per year. He is not going to show up at the John Deere Classic to tune up his game, nor will many other big name pros. I'll be curious to see how the players fare coming out of this new conglomerate.

Phil at the PGA/LIV merger meeting pic.twitter.com/JlaxtaUBvf

— Taylor Mack (@taylormack29) June 6, 2023

Bizarro Jerry said:

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This is going to piss off every single PGA Tour player that stuck around. This news changes everything for golf

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Except they're all about to make a lot more money.

Succession peeps will get it.

Rory: pic.twitter.com/gZHn9wNkIx

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) June 6, 2023