On Tuesday morning, it was announced that after two years of being against one another, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are uniting as one.
Also including the DP World Tour, who formed an alliance with the PGA Tour nearly a year ago, the three leagues are coming together to unify the game and end any litigation between the organizations.
From players speaking out over the last couple of years favoring their league to players leaving to go to the other side, this announcement comes as the PGA Tour gets set for the RBC Canadian and the golf world prepares for the U.S. Open next week, the third major of the year.
Here are five takeaways as a result of Tuesday’s announcement.
Related: PGA Tour reportedly merged with LIV Golf over ‘desperation’ to avoid losing more fans
How the PGA Tour players feel
Usually, the players on the PGA Tour get some knowledge that a move like this will happen before it goes out to the public.
Not this time.
According to Daniel Rapaport from Barstool Sports, he tweeted that the “PGA Tour didn’t communicate this to players at all. They found out the same time we did.”
Looking back at the past two years, the current players on the PGA Tour made a commitment to represent the PGA Tour by saying they were not going to leave for LIV Golf and the money.
This is a player-run organization but not very many players knew about this.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy led a players-only meeting last August prior to the BMW Championship to ensure the top players in the game stayed and supported the PGA Tour.
As a result, with the news that the players got the same time as the media, some players are not going to be happy because they decided to decline the lucrative contract and not go to LIV Golf.
The players are meeting with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at 4 p.m. ET later today to discuss this new partnership on-site at the RBC Canadian Open.
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How this merge changes the 2024 calendar
As a result of the new deal between the organizations, so many questions arise. From how much alliance the DP World Tour will have with the PGA Tour in the future to how will the Fall 2023 and 2024 regular season change with this move.
2024 has been planned to mark the first year the PGA Tour reverts back to a calendar-long schedule rather than a year-round schedule.
However, this merger has the opportunity to change the scheduling and its parts. 2024 is slated to have its designated events if a player finishes within the top 50 of the FedEx Cup playoffs this season, with opportunities to get in if a player finishes outside the top 50.
In addition, Woods and McIlroy announced a high-tech golf league called the TGL, which is set to begin in seven months.
In addition to Woods and McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, and Max Homa have accepted to be part of this league. However, the TGL has not announced any new players since Fowler in March.
In partnership with the PGA Tour, a 15-match regular season with playoffs and a championship match are scheduled to take place beginning in January. There will be six teams of three PGA Tour players.
It will be interesting to see if the TGL continues because the PGA Tour is looking for ways to grow the game and not have 72-hole stroke play tournaments for 90% of the schedule.
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Will other non-stroke play events take place on the PGA Tour?
Although the TGL is expected to have competition, will the PGA Tour itself add team-format events to its schedule?
Within the official announcement of the merger, the PGA Tour said it will “determine how best to integrate team golf into the professional game.” Already having the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team format events within the PGA Tour, in addition to the TGL, it will be interesting to see what the PGA Tour decides.
Whether it is two-team events or as much as four, like in LIV Golf the possibilities of team play are wide open as to what will happen within the parameters of the schedule that is already scheduled, whether it is for 2024 or 2025 and beyond.
In terms of other formats on the PGA Tour, besides stroke play, the Dell Technologies Match Play event played its final event in March when Sam Burns defeated Scheffler.
Related: PGA Tour reportedly merged with LIV Golf over ‘desperation’ to avoid losing more fans
What will happen with LIV Golf players when they return to PGA Tour?
The PGA Tour has many decisions to make, not only from the type of events it has on the schedule, but also who from LIV Golf comes back to the PGA Tour and how.
Because of how much money the players from LIV Golf made within the last two years, they would probably have to pay their way back in, despite them being expelled from the PGA Tour when they left.
Although these decisions will have to be approved by the PGA Tour Policy Board, the changes will result in how the LIV are accepted back on to the PGA Tour, no matter the popularity or experience.
Each case for each LIV Golf player making its return to the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour will be different, but as the announcements come, it will be interesting to see how much a player will possibly give up.
The vibes one week away from the U.S. Open
Out of all of this, this comes nine days before the first round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
With the RBC Canadian Open not being a designated event, not all the top players will be on hand for the 4 p.m. ET meeting because some are preparing for next week’s third major.
The Masters was the first time we saw the players from both leagues interact. We saw it a second time at the PGA Championship last month.
This merger will have its own effect on the camaraderie between the leagues next week. It ultimately affects the play on the course with this announcement as it comes one week before one of the biggest tournaments of the year – the United States Open.
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