SHOCKING NEWS – PGA Tour Merging with LIV Tour
Daniel Kaplan from The Athletic tweeted the PGA Tour & LIV Tour have settled their lawsuits and in a shocking move, have decided to merge tours.
Reaction was swift & harsh towards the PGA Tour.
The Saudi-backed LIV Tour was started in 2022 by Greg Norman. Top PGA Tour players such as Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia joined the LIV tour for reportedly huge sums of upfront money. The LIV Tour differs from the PGA Tour in that they only play 54 holes per tournament, no cuts halfway into the tournament, players are allowed to wear shorts and there is a team aspect involved.
Once the players joined the LIV Tour, they were forced to give up playing on the PGA Tour. Due to that, one issue, among many, facing the LIV Tour players was amassing world rankings points which allows entry into the Major tournaments, The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open, British Open and World Golf Championships.
And while players such as Koepka & Johnson are exempt into the majors many others aren’t. Since the LIV Tour players had to forgo their PGA Tour playing privileges, there wasn’t a way to earn world rankings. That issue has now been solved.
There was plenty of criticism headed to PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan’s way.