Golf’s controversial new partnership is in for an “uncomfortable ride” and may face lengthy and costly legal challenges in multiple jurisdictions, a competition lawyer has said.
The PGA Tour announced last week it was creating a new commercial entity with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), a move it said would “unify golf” and which brought an end to a legal dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a series backed by PIF.
Concerns have already been raised about whether the new deal may fall foul of competition law. The United States Senate has already opened an investigation into it, with Senator Richard Blumenthal writing to PGA Tour chief executive Jay Monahan to say that the PGA Tour’s “sudden and drastic reversal of position concerning LIV Golf” raised “serious questions”. #PIF, @PGATOUR and @DPWorldTour today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf globally.H.E.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of #PIF, commenting on the announcementLearn more: https://t.co/rplh54pl5i pic.twitter.com/pyYAKyvFN1 — Public Investment Fund (@PIF_en) June 6, 2023 The PGA Tour insists this agreement is not a merger, and that the deal did not mean PIF now owned the PGA Tour.