Tuesday’s Senate hearing into the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger revealed some wild and interesting details of some of the plans the two tours were cooking up during early negotiations.
The merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and upstarts LIV Golf shocked the sports world. The circuit backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund had received serious blowback during its first year in existence and became bitter rivals with the PGA after luring away many top stars with massive paydays.
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While the two top golf tours were happy to put their issues and ongoing litigation behind them in the merger, there were many in and outside the industry not thrilled by the news. One entity that had concerns about the agreement was Congress. Soon after the announcement, it was revealed that a congressional investigation was opened into the merger, and top members of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were asked to speak in front of a Senate subcommittee.
PGA Tour stars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy could own teams in LIV Golf
That hearing occurred on Tuesday, and a trove of documents was released that unveiled some stunning ideas raised during conversations between the two golf entities. One of the most shocking was that LIV Golf would continue on, possibly as a Fall specific circuit, and the powers that be in LIV had hopes that superstars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy would compete in LIV and get ownership of teams in the league.
Another idea bandied about was a “World Golf Series” between the two leagues that would occur at the end of the season in Saudi Arabia.
Recent reports have suggested that the PGA would oversee the new company that all three tours would compete under and Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan would be the final say in many LIV decisions. Because of that, the idea of ousting current LIV boss Greg Norman was also a topic of conversation.
PGA Tour COO Ron Price was present at the hearing and confirmed that based on the current framework of the deal, Norman’s position would no longer be needed. However, he also admitted “We do not have an agreement now. We only have a framework agreement. We will not move to a definitive agreement unless the PGA Tour is in complete control of the new entity.”
While a final agreement is expected at some point, it is not completely out of the question the massive deal falls apart due to congressional pressure and from some inside the PGA that are unhappy with the shocking pact.