The stars of LIV Golf scored another major victory against the PGA Tour this week and will be able to compete at the four majors in 2023. Something many of them was unable to do last year.
The war between the PGA Tour and the wealthy upstart league LIV Golf is now in its second year. LIV is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which is part of the Saudi government. While it does not have the prestige of the legendary PGA, it has used its billions of dollars to snap up a plethora of big-name stars from the PGA.
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It has gotten ugly at times with previous and ongoing litigation between the two professional golf tours. However, the biggest story from the rivalry in 2022 was LIV players being banned from competing on the PGA Tour and suspended from taking part in the sport’s four major events. Due to those independent tournaments’ close ties to the PGA.
However, there have been some sweeping changes recently that won’t make the PGA happy but should excite golf fans around the world.
PGA Championship to allow LIV Golfers in 2023
LIV Golf players have gotten a wave of positive news of late after expecting to be banned from major events in 2023. Recently, Augusta National Golf Club and the USGA cleared LIV golfers to take part in this year’s Masters and U.S. Open.
On Wednesday, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews gave the okay for the new league’s talent to play in the 2023 Open Championship as well. Now, on Thursday came the news that the PGA of America will also allow LIV players to compete at this year’s PGA Championship in May.
Not having several stars from LIV Golf compete in the majors last year certainly hurt those events a bit with fans. However, with even more PGA Tour stars defecting in the last few months, it has become very clear that those events would suffer by not being nearly as star-studded as they should be with only one of the two tour’s talent involved.
The move further takes away the little leverage the PGA Tour had on the players that chose high-level competition and major titles over the huge sums of money that LIV Golf is paying in signing bonuses and event winnings.