PGA Tour & LIV Golf Merger
A PGA Tour & LIV Golf Merger has been on the minds of executives, players, and fans ever since the initial division of the two leagues back in 2022. With names like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith, and Phil Mickelson playing on the LIV Golf Tour, events just haven’t been the same. Other than majors, the PGA Tour is just missing the competitiveness of some of the “traitors” per say, and it has caused a lot of tension between the two leagues. Now in 2024, everything has changed.
PGA Tour
For the longest time, commissioner Jay Monahan stood his ground in the stance of that the players who wanted to leave the PGA Tour for the increased pay on the LIV Tour, would be missing out on legacy. Players like Rory Mcllroy, Vicktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, and many more took to Monahan’s aid and voiced that they did not support, nor like the idea of the LIV Tour. The PGA Tour was a tour founded on legacy and the commissioner was not willing to sacrifice that for a few players wanting to be incentivized a bit more on the LIV Tour. Or so everyone thought.
LIV Golf
In the middle parts of 2022, when LIV Golf was first immerging, nobody really thought it had any sort of traction. With little to no TV coverage, a weird 54- hole team formatting, music blaring on every hole, it was just a hard aspect to grasp to start. However, LIV Golf started picking off player after player from the PGA Tour and how hold some of the biggest names in all of professional golf. With players such as Cam Smith, Tyrrell Haton, and easily the largest signing in LIV Golf history Jon Rham, viewers are much more in tune with what is going on at LIV Golf than ever before.
The Masters & PGA Championship 2023 (Oak Hill)
Likely the biggest turning point for LIV Golf was around the 2023 Masters and PGA Championship tournaments. Before these two major championships, everyone figured that the players from LIV would be rusty, sloppy, and not in contention. This was certainly not the case. With Brooks Koepka holding a 54-hole lead and eventually falling short to Jon Rham (while he was still on the PGA Tour), Phil Mickelson took home a surprising 2nd place finish. With many LIV players finishing well at The Masters, viewers quickly realized that the LIV Golf Tour was the real deal. Additionally, shortly after The Masters, Brooks Koepka took home his 5th major at Oak Hill winning the PGA Championship, again putting LIV Golf on the map.
The Merger
On June 6th, 2023, with seemingly no warning, Jay Monahan announced a merger between the two leagues. Players on both sides were extremely shocked, both for good and for bad. PGA Tour players felt the betrayal of having Monahan’s back, whereas LIV Golf players just got paid and were now looking to rejoin the events that they left for LIV. It was a tremendous slap in the face to the PGA Tour. Now, almost a full year later, there have been swirls about Tiger Woods playing golf with LIV Golf’s Governor, Yasir al Rumayyan. With little details released on the topic of “The Future of Golf”, it will be very interesting to see if Wood’s is questioned at The Masters around the discussions.
Your Opinion
We want this blog to be as interactive as possible. For the GreenSeeker community, what are your thoughts around the possibility of a merger between the two leagues? Would you be excited to see all of the best players in the world competing on the same tour again? Please leave some feedback at the link below at our “Feedback From The Gallery” page:
Learn More?
To learn more, click the link below to be redirected to the New York Times article on the possible merger:
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GreenSeeker
