'I thought it was a joke': Golfers, golf fans react to PGA Tour's merger with LIV
Posted June 6, 2023 5:14 p.m. EDT
Updated June 7, 2023 9:43 a.m. EDT
Southern Pines, N.C. — Barton College golfer Harrison Wierse is spending his summer playing as much golf as he can.
The rising senior is hopeful for a career in professional golf even if it’s not in the PGA Tour, DP World Tour or in the LIV Golf League.
“There’s also the Challenge Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, the Canadian Tour and those are all feeding into it,” Wierse said. “So, as a player looking to play on one of those, this is a better opportunity to have more resources feeding into those.”
On Tuesday morning, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Saudi-based LIV Golf League agreed to unify. It ends a two-year feud between the PGA Tour and LIV.
The new deal ends all pending litigation. LIV had been named in antitrust lawsuits with the PGA Tour.
Tuesday’s announcement doesn’t change Wierse’s dreams.
“I thought it was a joke and I didn’t really pay attention to it until the PGA Tour actually posted it,” he said.
The merger does not come without controversy. LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and some believe this is an attempt to sportswash their human rights record, as well as the country's ties to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
99.9 The Fan radio host Adam Gold provided his response to Tuesday’s news.
“I think this is a great deal for LIV Golf,” Gold said. “It legitimizes what they were doing.”
Gold said the way this agreement happened with most players having no knowledge raises the question: How much was this really about unifying the game of golf?
“Especially after all the players went through and the commitments the players had to make to not go to LIV and sign with the PGA Tour knowing they were leaving hundreds of millions of dollars collectively on the table,” Gold said.
Meanwhile, several fans WRAL News spoke with are happy the feud between the tours is ending and they can see their favorite players compete against each other once again.
“I miss [watching] Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson and all the guys who left the [PGA] Tour, so I’m glad they’re going to be playing on the main circuit once again,” golf fan Vance Day said.
Still to be determined is how players like Koepka, Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf for nine-figure bonuses, can rejoin the PGA Tour after this year.
“I’m glad to see all of the best players back in one place together besides just the majors, I hope,” said golf fan Lee Campbell.
On Tuesday, we also learned the PGA Tour will have a majority of seats on a newly formed board that oversees the new entity but the Saudi Public Investment fund will be the main financial investor. Still, there are many details to come from how the merger will work.
