(WBEN/WGR 550) - In a shocking turn of events in the golf world, the PGA Tour announced on Tuesday it has merged with the DP World Tour (European Tour) and Public Investment Fund (PIF) in an attempt to unify the professional golf world.
This means the PGA Tour will be merging with LIV Golf, nearly a year after LIV held its first event that saw a number of golfers from the PGA defect to the new tour. This will now create a new, "collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players."
The new entity has not been named, at this time.
Also as part of the deal, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf.
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Western New York PGA Pro, and co-host of WGR's "Tee 2 Green", Jeff Mietus was just as shocked as everyone by Tuesday's news, saying the news blindsided many with it seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"It seemed everybody was taking a position of strength, and they were trying to run the other one out of business. In retrospect, I can see the convergence and how it will help golf in the long run," said Mietus on Tuesday. "I'm a tiny bit concerned about having LIV, and I'm interested to see where this goes because of the branding that's associated with LIV and their players, and how this is all going to work. These people took a big paycheck, and now they get tour status still? How is it all going to work? It's all going to be in the details, but it is a very, very shocking development for the world of golf. I think we're all on our heels a little bit this morning."
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Mietus believes this merger in professional golf will generally have a positive impact, with the biggest factor being an increase in purses for tournaments across the board.
"A lot more money for everybody, a lot more opportunities for our golfers and a lot more branding, which is all good," Mietus said. "I guess there's the Saudi element that's the only questionable pillar. If there's three pillars to this new structure - LIV, the European Tour and the PGA Tour - and then the PGA also owns like the Latin American Tour and this tour, it'll be interesting how this is all shaking out in the long run. As shocked as I am and as slightly disappointed as I am, I do think it's going to be the best thing for golf."
While Mietus feels this news may end up being a benefit to the players in the long-term, some on the PGA Tour are furious to learn of the merger on social media. PGA Tour player Wesley Bryan is among those who have spoken out against the merger, tweeting, “I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.”
One news outlet broke an embargo of the announcement about 30 minutes early, and before some players were able to read a memo sent to them by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.
Despite some early frustrations from the PGA Tour players following Tuesday's announcement, Mietus feels a lot of players will embrace the merger heading into a new future for professional golf.
"I believe it gives them more playing opportunities, and I believe that gives them more money to make. There's more money out there now for these players," he said. "The best players in the world don't make what an NFL quarterback or an average NBA guard makes, so we'll see. I think it's gonna be good for everybody, if they do it right. As I said before, the devil is going to be in the details and how it's going to go. I'm a traditionalist, in some sense, but I'm for growing golf, so I do believe it might be the best thing. I hope they incorporate some type of woman's tour into this, fold this into the whole world tour, this whole thing that's going on to grow golf even more."
In the immediate response to players leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf one year ago, there were many players who responded in both tours to the rash of players leaving the PGA with the intent to make more money playing at the LIV level. Some of those discussions created some tension between golfers and the tours.
Although tensions may linger well into the new merger going forward, Mietus believes those relationships can be mended, and many will be happy to be golfing with old friends once again under one umbrella.
"I think there are certain players who probably burned a lot of bridges on their way out the door, and have said some things that were incendiary to the other players, or even antagonistic. That may take a little while for those friendships to heal, if they ever do, but I think most golfers it's a small community of the elite players in the world," Mietus explained. "They all have a million connections, have played together as juniors, college and throughout the tours. So they're probably happy to have their friends back with them. I'm sure certain guys aren't going to be as welcome as others, but I bet for the most part, they're going to be happy to have their buddies back playing golf with them in tournaments."
More of our conversation with Mietus is available in the player below: