PGA to merge with LIV

[Sean_A]

I am not a betting man. If I were to place a bet it would be for the merger to go thru. The Senate dog and pony show will achieve nothing... as usual.

The Tour was caught asleep by poor leadership.

There shouldn't be a 501-3c exemption for the Tour.

Ciao

[Erik J. Barzeski]

It's not a merger.

[Kalen Braley]

Stumbled on the PGATour coverage for John Deere on the golf channel.

Was a bit surprised to see very small galleries, (if any at all on some holes). I've seen far better attended Korn Ferry events, is this the new normal for 2nd/3rd tier PGATour events?

[John_Cullum]

Stumbled on the PGATour coverage for John Deere on the golf channel.

Was a bit surprised to see very small galleries, (if any at all on some holes). I've seen far better attended Korn Ferry events, is this the new normal for 2nd/3rd tier PGATour events?

It has been for quite awhile

[Carl Rogers]

I scroll back and forth between the Tour & LIV telecast.  I prefer the LIV.  Team play gives it another dynamic.

[Rob Marshall]

I scroll back and forth between the Tour & LIV telecast.  I prefer the LIV.  Team play gives it another dynamic.

Watching Chase Keopka, Kevin Na, CH3, and Pat Perez is captivating….I could care less about a team format. Once this year is over i hope it’s dead in the water like team tennis. Other than Cam Smith I’d rather watch pickle ball.

[David Cronan]

Interesting read and development. Per usual, so much more than meets the eye....


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/business/dealbook/pga-stephenson-resign-saudi.html

[Michael Morandi]

Interesting read and development. Per usual, so much more than meets the eye....


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/business/dealbook/pga-stephenson-resign-saudi.html

By all accounts, Jimmy Dunne is an honorable person. He went the extra mile to compensate the families in his firm who lost loved ones September 11. But how does he go from not letting LIV players participate in Seminole’s pro-member to cutting a deal with the Saudi PIF?  Reports indicate that the PIF agreed to drop litigation without qualifications when Dunne first met them. Why not take that offer and explore other solutions to the tour’s financial predicament?  Sometimes deal makers need to restrain themselves. I suppose we will learn more during the hearings.

[Michael Morandi]

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/37994194/pga-tour-pif-talks-eyed-greg-norman-ouster-tiger-woods-owned-liv-team

[Wayne_Kozun]

Interesting read and development. Per usual, so much more than meets the eye....


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/business/dealbook/pga-stephenson-resign-saudi.html

By all accounts, Jimmy Dunne is an honorable person. He went the extra mile to compensate the families in his firm who lost loved ones September 11. But how does he go from not letting LIV players participate in Seminole’s pro-member to cutting a deal with the Saudi PIF?  Reports indicate that the PIF agreed to drop litigation without qualifications when Dunne first met them. Why not take that offer and explore other solutions to the tour’s financial predicament?  Sometimes deal makers need to restrain themselves. I suppose we will learn more during the hearings.

It also sounds like Jimmy, or Jay, is handing out memberships to ANGC and the R&A like pieces of candy.

[Eric Zimmerer]

Very interesting on the ANGC membership for Al-Rumayyan. Wonder how the membership would feel if that actually comes to fruition. Does The Tour actually have the authority to provide and deliver on that promise?

Also - How does Tiger play 10 LIV events a year when he can barely play a major?

Seems like a lot of demands, that they might not be able to promise.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Very interesting on the ANGC membership for Al-Rumayyan. Wonder how the membership would feel if that actually comes to fruition. Does The Tour actually have the authority to provide and deliver on that promise?

Yes, that is fascinating.  It may be that Jimmy Dunne was the guy behind that.  Maybe he can make it happen?

[Dave Doxey]

I scroll back and forth between the Tour & LIV telecast.  I prefer the LIV.  Team play gives it another dynamic.

The one good thing that I’ve been hoping would come out of the LIV revolt is for network coverage of non-major PGAT events to be forced to improve.  It is currently unwatchable without a DVR to facilitate the skipping of commercials, puff pieces, announcer babble, and  time spent by players planning shots and surveying putts. Showing only three actual golf shots between commercial breaks is ridiculous.


Golf fans deserve better.  Just show us golf shots.

[Tim Martin]

I’ve always been a fan of Jimmy Dunne not so much for his connection to golf but in the way that he handled the aftermath of 9/11 in relation to Sandler O’Neill and the affected families. I don’t know that the PGA Tour was clairvoyant enough to realize that the issue would result in congressional hearings but having Jimmy in the hot seat was a plus. My takeaway from both Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne’s testimony is that the PGA Tour would cease to exist in it’s current form within the next few years as a result of the competing interest and bottomless pockets of the PIF/LIV. I realize that for many and understandably so this alliance/agreement flies in the face of the Tour’s original position and that no peace as it relates to this issue with the Saudi’s should have been brokered. Right or wrong it looks like a good chance that the deal gets done albeit with a few surprises in the contractual language. Finally I think you will see both Greg Norman and Yasir Al-Rumayyan in front of Congress right around the same time as pigs fly.

[Mike_Trenham]

The Augusta National Membership for His Excellency is likely because LIV/PIF threatened to schedule an event opposite The Masters with a purse double the size of the Masters.  I was told the power players at Augusta leaned on Jimmy Dunn to get involved and negotiate a truce.

[Charlie Goerges]

The Augusta National Membership for His Excellency is likely because LIV/PIF threatened to schedule an event opposite The Masters with a purse double the size of the Masters.  I was told the power players at Augusta leaned on Jimmy Dunn to get involved and negotiate a truce.

I believe you but is ANGC really worried about the Masters losing like 13,000 viewers tops? Or is there any player who would skip the Masters for such an event? Maybe there is, I don't know.

[Tim Martin]

The Augusta National Membership for His Excellency is likely because LIV/PIF threatened to schedule an event opposite The Masters with a purse double the size of the Masters.  I was told the power players at Augusta leaned on Jimmy Dunn to get involved and negotiate a truce.

I believe you but is ANGC really worried about the Masters losing like 13,000 viewers tops? Or is there any player who would skip the Masters for such an event? Maybe there is, I don't know.

Charlie-Not unlike the group of players that no one expected to go to LIV there may be a prize pool generous enough to entice some to skip the Masters.

[Michael Morandi]

Didn’t it used to be the case that if you made your interest  in becoming an ANGC member public, your chances of selection were delayed and/or eliminated?  It will be interesting to see how this plays out for the PIF Governor.


Regarding Tour governance, would you remain on the board if the most consequential matter in its history was not shared with you as it was developing? 


One thing I learned during the hearing is that the Tour seemingly had a 20 year arrangement with China. I did not hear Monahan and others rail against their human rights transgressions. Could it be because the Chinese weren’t poaching their players? 


I understand why the Tour is pursuing the PIF deal (the existential threat)  but all the backstories released today are not a good look for it.

[Stewart Abramson]

One thing I learned during the hearing is that the Tour seemingly had a 20 year arrangement with China. I did not hear Monahan and others rail against their human rights transgressions. Could it be because the Chinese weren’t poaching their players? 

I'd take anything said by the Senators on that sub committee with a grain of salt. I think  poaching/not poaching in this context is a red herring.  The China series ran for 6 years as a developmental tour similar to the Latin American developmental tour, intended to broaden the reach of tour golf . It's hard to imagine it was a vehicle for  material  Chinese sportswashing as hardly anyone even knew about it. It seems to me that even small sports connections to countries that do bad things are now getting more scrutiny than more significant connections by other businesses with the same countries.

[Tim Martin]

Despite the deep personal connection Jimmy Dunne has to 9/11 he showed himself to be a pragmatist today. I understand the resentment of both the LIV and the Saudi’s involvement but it’s hard to believe without this intervention that the PGA Tour would be the last man standing.

[John Kavanaugh]

Are the people who said LIV would fail right or wrong?

[Tim Leahy]

Are the people who said LIV would fail right or wrong?

The Saudi's have leveraged their way into the PGA Tour if this deal goes through, which it will since $$$$ rules, so the Saudi's have succeeded. We the golf fans and PGA Tour players still have no idea if LIV will still exist after this season. No one can confirm or deny if the talking points list that included the Augusta National membership and a fall LIV schedule was agreed to or not. So much more to come. 

[Steve Lapper]

The Augusta National Membership for His Excellency is likely because LIV/PIF threatened to schedule an event opposite The Masters with a purse double the size of the Masters.  I was told the power players at Augusta leaned on Jimmy Dunn to get involved and negotiate a truce.

I will gladly take the other side of this...any wager won would go to charity.

[Rob Marshall]

The Augusta National Membership for His Excellency is likely because LIV/PIF threatened to schedule an event opposite The Masters with a purse double the size of the Masters.  I was told the power players at Augusta leaned on Jimmy Dunn to get involved and negotiate a truce.

I will gladly take the other side of this...any wager won would go to charity.

Agreed, No way this guy get's into Augusta. Last thing the members want is their club used as a pawn is this deal.

[Craig Sweet]

I can't wait until the Saudi Fund starts buying into the NFL...