After the unexpected announcement about a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf this afternoon, there is no doubt that the world of professional golf has now been permanently changed moving forward.
The Saudi-backed venture has been a major disruptive presence in the sport since its debut season in 2022, luring some big names to the competition with the promise of huge pay packets that the traditional tours could not match. Since then, LIV Golf and its players have been involved in numerous lawsuits and saw their relationship with the old tours sour severely.
The PGA Tour viewed the new competition as a huge threat to top level golf, with PGA Tour Commisioner Jay Monaghan making these comments only one year ago.
"Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan comments on players joining LIV Golf. pic.twitter.com/MeHAbR1qQL— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 12, 2022
Now 12 months on, some are viewing this merger as a slap in the face to the players who stuck by them.
PGA Tour players reportedly had no idea about LIV Golf merger
All of the top players in the PGA Tour were approached to make the move to LIV Golf, although the majority of them turned down that chance despite being offered some outlandish sums of money. Whereas the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were getting guaranteed paydays of up to $200million, big stars such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Justin Thomas defended the prestige of the old tour.
Now, they might look rather foolish for doing so.
The announcement this afternoon came as a huge shock to the general public, with there being little indication that the two parties were even engaged in talks on a potential merger. It was something that some people envisaged happening at some point, but not in anywhere near this short of a timeframe.
As it turns out, that includes the players themselves.
A number of well connected names in golf have taken to social media to share information they have received from numerous players, all of whom said the PGA Tour had given them no prior indication that a merger was imminent. In other words, they found out on Twitter just like the rest of us.
There’s gonna a tonnnnn of angry PGA Tour players who turned down hundreds of millions of dollars. Do you compensate those guys? What happens with the designated events next year?
This is a player-run organization and they didn’t tell them shit. https://t.co/VrIy8iXqCL— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) June 6, 2023
It’s a terrible look that basically no PGA Tour players had any idea this was coming, along with the fact that many guys turned down boatloads of cash only to have the others still be able to come back after making bank. Yikes..
— Shauheen Nakhjavani (@shkeengolf) June 6, 2023
The idea that the PGA Tour is a "player-run organization" seems kind of blown up today, yes? Not a single player knew this was coming, or got to vote on it, and saw it unfold on TV?
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 6, 2023
Certainly not a good look for the PGA Tour.
Unsurprisingly, the players are not happy with the way this has been handled.
Initial feedback is that the TOUR players are *not happy*.
They turned down cash, changed their own schedule, stuck their necks out against LIV for two years and now they are finding out about a merge in real-time on Twitter.— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) June 6, 2023
They have every right to be unhappy over this issue.
A couple of players have already shared their shock at the news online.
I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours
but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) June 6, 2023
I love finding out morning news on Twitter
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023
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
As for the LIV Golf players, it seems they were also in a very similar situation.
Just talked to a key insider at LIV - they had no idea this was coming. There hasn't been any internal communication yet! Players, agents, etc. are learning about the merger from tweets and news reports. Same on the PGA Tour. Cloak-and-dagger stuff from Monahan and the PIF.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) June 6, 2023
It remains to be seen exactly how this merger will work and what the future holds for each tour individually.
One thing we do know for certain, whatever way it is handled is sure to cause plenty of friction among the players that had previously stood by the PGA Tour.
SEE ALSO: Golfing World Stunned As PGA Tour Announce Shock Merger With LIV Golf
