Peace In Golf?

The June deal linking LIV and the PGA Tour leaves many questions unanswered

- JEFF WILLIAMS

Litigation, government investigations, player discontent and barrels of cash have been the hallmark of men’s professional golf for more than a year now. The PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf Invitational Series have been in a furious fight over money and player free agency in a bitterly contested match play event.

With Greg Norman as its driving force and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund as its oilfueled bankroll, LIV had poached Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, among others, from the Tour, laying out what many reports said were hundreds of millions of dollars. LIV began play in June 2022, offering a different game, with 48-player fields playing 54 holes with no cut and $25 million purses. The events were held around the world in a party atmosphere with the “Golf, But Louder” calling card. In response to LIV, the PGA Tour upped purses at certain events.

The court fights soon followed, with LIV suing the Tour over antitrust issues and the Tour countersuing by alleging LIV unlawfully interfered with the Tour’s business. Mickelson made a series of accusations about the Tour, saying it was rife with “obnoxious greed.” Lines were drawn between the players on each tour. “They shouldn’t be here,” Rory McIlroy said about LIV golfers playing in the 2022 PGA Championship.

Golf hadn’t experienced anything like this in decades. It was all-out war.