PGA and LIV golf tours agree to merge; Saudis to be major sponsor

[hurtinbuckaroo]

PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

The PGA Tour is merging with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf, following months of tensions and mounting lawsuits between the competitors.

www.cnbc.com

Quite a shock, or not. It’s all about the Benjamins. All lawsuits are dropped. They’re merging in the Euro Tour also. This frees up a lot of weekend time for me; I refused to watch LIV, and I won’t watch this.

 

[blastula]

"Mr. Monahan talked last summer about knowing people who lost loved ones on 9/11, then wondered aloud on national television whether LIV Golfers ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour. They do now – as does he," said 9/11 Families United Chair Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the World Trade Center's North Tower. "PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed. Our entire 9/11 community has been betrayed by Commissioner Monahan and the PGA as it appears their concern for our loved ones was merely window-dressing in their quest for money – it was never to honor the great game of golf."

The statement referred to when Monahan said during an interview with CBS Sports that he had discussed these controversies with tour players.

"I think you'd have to be living under a rock not to know there are significant implications," Monahan said during the interview. "I would ask any player who has left or any player who would consider leaving, 'Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA tour?'"

Oof.

 

[bilby]

Given that golf seems to appeal mainly to two groups of people - Stupidly wealthy men with no obvious abilities; and those who seek the unearned favour of stupidly wealthy men, as an alternative to developing any other abilities - it astonishes me that it's taken the Saudis so long to get a complete stranglehold on the game.

It suits the Saudi character to a tee.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

Given that golf seems to appeal mainly to two groups of people - Stupidly wealthy men with no obvious abilities; and those who seek the unearned favour of stupidly wealthy men, as an alternative to developing any other abilities - it astonishes me that it's taken the Saudis so long to get a complete stranglehold on the game.

It suits the Saudi character to a tee.

I’ve played golf with hundreds of people. Maybe a half dozen fit your description.

 

[ZiprHead]

The Indian guy that runs the c-store i'm a regular at is a big golfer. He's asked me to join him in a round but I haven't golfed since I was in my teens and I was terrible at it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

What confuses me is where was LIV's leverage? They were a fourth rate tour with a bunch of money. So it seems like the PGA had discovery issues they were nervous about. So now Saudi Arabia continues to diversify into sports. It will be a weird merger as the PGA and LIV aren't exactly compatible. But I don't really care much about golf. This just looks bad for the PGA after their earlier posturing.

Also, I'm starting a new Golf league and will sue to get rich.

Given that golf seems to appeal mainly to two groups of people - Stupidly wealthy men with no obvious abilities; and those who seek the unearned favour of stupidly wealthy men, as an alternative to developing any other abilities - it astonishes me that it's taken the Saudis so long to get a complete stranglehold on the game.

It suits the Saudi character to a tee.

I thought golfers were generally people who weren't good at coordinated sports... and weren't good at running.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I thought golfers were generally people who weren't good at coordinated sports... and weren't good at running.

That’s me. If I need to hit a ball, it had better not be moving.

 

[bilby]

What confuses me is where was LIV's leverage? They were a fourth rate tour with a bunch of money. So it seems like the PGA had discovery issues they were nervous about. So now Saudi Arabia continues to diversify into sports. It will be a weird merger as the PGA and LIV aren't exactly compatible. But I don't really care much about golf. This just looks bad for the PGA after their earlier posturing.

Also, I'm starting a new Golf league and will sue to get rich.

Given that golf seems to appeal mainly to two groups of people - Stupidly wealthy men with no obvious abilities; and those who seek the unearned favour of stupidly wealthy men, as an alternative to developing any other abilities - it astonishes me that it's taken the Saudis so long to get a complete stranglehold on the game.

It suits the Saudi character to a tee.

I thought golfers were generally people who weren't good at coordinated sports... and weren't good at running.

That's me; But I find that playing snooker and darts is less likely to end with being caught out in the rain, or struck by lightning.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I never worry about lightning because I always carry a 1-iron.

 

[Elixir]

This whole deal sounds like one humongous sand trap f'ya know whatamean.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

I felt bad for about half a second for the players who really put themselves out there in support of the PGA when LIV first started. They preached about the integrity of the game, ethics, etc. Then I remembered that Rory Mcllroy and the rest can cry themselves to sleep on a gigantic mattress stuffed with money and I felt pity no more.

Whatever. I still suck at the game but somehow still enjoy playing. None of this big $ shit affects me.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This whole deal sounds like one humongous sand trap f'ya know whatamean.

It sounds like the PGA didn't want stuff to come out during discovery.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

This whole deal sounds like one humongous sand trap f'ya know whatamean.

It sounds like the PGA didn't want stuff to come out during discovery.

The players are demanding info from the commissioner. The commissioner is unavailable due to a convenient unscheduled medical procedure (probably removed his balls, since he wasn't using them). Multiple Congressional committees are rattling sabers. Meanwhile, the number of viewers for the US Open was up 27% from last year. WTF?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ratings for golf have been trending the wrong way for a long bit of time, with the US Open being half of what it was 15 years ago. Tiger Woods made golf cool for people that have gone back to not caring about golf, and of course, the other issue of competing with a zillion other forms of media.

PGA merge with LIV... I think people that watch golf will still watch golf.