June 6, 2023, 7:26 PM
June 6, 2023, 7:26 PM
The North American PGA circuit and the European DP World Tour announced on Tuesday their merger with dissident circuit LIV Golf, sponsored by Saudi Arabia, ending all disputes between them.
The PGA Tour indicated that it signed “an agreement combining the commercial activities and rights” of Saudi sovereign wealth funds (PIFs) in golf, including the LIV, “with the commercial activities and rights of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour into a new for-profit entity collectively owned.”
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chief director of the PIF, will chair the board of the new business entity, whose executive director will be Jay Monahan, who leads the PGA Tour.
“After two years of interruptions and distractions, Today is a historic day for the game we all know and love.“said Monahan, who has been at the forefront of the fight against the LIV Golf since its official launch in June 2022.
The creation of this dissident circuit that shook golf is part of the great global offensive led by Saudi Arabia in the sportunder the aegis of Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.
And this merger is a big surprise, since the PGA and LIV Golf were involved in a confrontation both on the legal front and in the amounts offered to attract the most prestigious stars in the sport.
But the announcement of this merger angered a group representing the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, which harshly criticized the PGA and Monahan for their “hypocrisy and greed”considering themselves “betrayed, because it seems that their concern for our loved ones was just a facade in their pursuit of money.”
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers of the four planes that fateful day were Saudi citizens.
– ‘Start of a new era’ –
“This new partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, heritage and pro-competitive model and combines it with the DP World Tour and the LIV, including the concept of team golf, to create an organization that will benefit golfers, businesses, charitable partners and fans,” Monahan said.
“We are happy to move forward, in line with LIV and PIF’s world-class investment experience, and I applaud PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for his forward-thinking, collaborative vision and approach that it’s not just a solution for discord in our gamebut also a commitment to take it to new heights,” added the American.
“It will usher in a new era in golf world, for the better”.
Which, on the other hand, infuriates a group that represents the families of the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, which did not stop criticizing the leader and his authority for his “hypocrisy and greed”, considering themselves “betrayed, because it seems that their concern for our loved ones was just a facade in their pursuit of money.” Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on that fateful day were sa
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, for his part, said in the statement that “Today is a very exciting day for this game. special and the people who make it all over the world.
“We are committed to the unification, promotion and growth of the game of golf throughout the world and with the delivery of products of the highest quality to millions of longtime viewers around the world, while cultivating new fans,” said the Saudi, who is also the non-executive chairman of English Premier League club Newcastle United.
