PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan claims that a lack of meaningful help from the United States Congress was part of the reason why the legendary tour agreed to merge with rivals LIV Golf.
The golf and sports world is still reeling from last week’s announcement that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour had brought their battle with LIV Golf to an end and will shockingly be merging with the upstart tour backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Related: PGA Tour players reportedly will receive major financial benefit in LIV merger
The news stunned many because of how bitter the rivalry had become. It divided players, and fans, and even included an ongoing anti-trust lawsuit. Yet, despite bans by the PGA Tour and open criticism of LIV’s links to a government with a horrid human rights history, Jay Monahan and the tour brokered a deal with their greatest threat.
In a recent closed-door meeting with unhappy PGA players that passed on huge paydays to stay loyal to the tour, Monahan reportedly admitted that losing to LIV was inevitable because they just couldn’t compete with the billions at the disposal of the Saudi PIF. Well, this week he offered up another official reason why they threw up the white flag in their golf war.
PGA Tour says they were ‘left on our own’ by Congress
Following reports on Monday that the US Senate had opened an official inquiry into the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger, ESPN reported on a letter Monahan sent Congress last week after the deal and put some of the blame for the decision on the US’s elected officials.
“While we are grateful for the written declarations of support we received from certain [congressional] members, we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This left the very real prospect of another decade of expensive and distracting litigation and the PGA Tour’s long-term existence under threat.”
– Jay Monahan
A new company will be formed to oversee the three top golf leagues and Monahan will be its CEO. He also reportedly will soon be in charge of LIV Golf and could make changes to its format in 2024.