A year ago, the RBC Canadian Open was the centre of the golf world as players abandoned the PGA Tour for the upstart, Saudi-backed LIV Golf. This year, in a stunning piece of news, the PGA Tour has announced it is merging with LIV and the DP World Tour (the former European Tour) to “unify the game of golf on a global basis.”
While the PGA Tour is run as a not-for-profit business, the new operation will be a collectively owned, for-profit entity “to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.” The deal ends all legal action by the various parties and a press release said the organizations will “work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour.”
Following the launch of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour banned players who moved to the new upstart tour. LIV stars, like PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, were able to play in major championships, but unable to participate in other PGA Tour events.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was expected in Toronto today for a meeting with PGA Tour players at Oakdale Golf and Country Club where play at this year’s RBC Canadian Open starts on Thursday.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans. Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future.”
What this means for the PGA Tour?
Let’s be honest—the PGA Tour is better with Koepka, Johnson, Cam Smith, Phil Mickelson and others, all of whom will now be welcomed into the new organization. The PGA Tour already had a relationship with the struggling DP World Tour, and had consolidated some of its feeder organizations, like PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. The PGA Tour will remain in place, but a new umbrella organization, with PGA Tour Commissioner Monahan as CEO, and Saudi public investment fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan as chairman, will oversee all three tours. Last year, when LIV was starting, it was reported that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were urging the PGA Tour to create a new for-profit model and both players would be investors. It is unclear whether the players are involved in the new model.
How does this impact golf in Canada?
RBC, which sponsors the RBC Canadian Open and the RBC Heritage, spends millions on golf in Canada and abroad. The bank was expected to renew its deal last year, but put it on pause do to the LIV insurgency. Will RBC look to now renew its deal?
What’s next?
The press release announcing the deal concluded by saying: “All parties will work in the months to come to finalize terms of the agreement, with details to be announced in due course.” What that means exactly is unknown. LIV’s team concept is referenced and will apparently continue. Will Koepka, Mickelson, and the other breakaway players be welcomed back to the PGA Tour right away? How does this impact this year’s FedExCup?