The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and their rival Saudi-backed LIV Golf have announced they will combine operations to create a new worldwide golf entity, marking one of the most consequential moments in the sport’s history.
In a stunning statement that took golf by surprise on Tuesday, the US-based PGA Tour and Europe’s DP World Tour said they would end a two-year litigation with LIV’s Saudi backers and form “a new collectively owned, for-profit entity”.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said.
Here is what you need to know about the controversial deal:
What does the deal involve?
The organisations said in a joint news release that they will work together to allow a process for LIV Golf players to reapply for membership on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, following the 2023 season.
The name of the newly merged entity and the precise structure of the tours have yet to be announced. Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will chair the board of the new entity and PGA Tour’s Monahan will be CEO.
The merger includes an agreement to end all pending litigation between the participating parties.
Additionally, the PIF will make a capital investment into the new entity to “facilitate its growth and success” and will initially be the exclusive investor.
Each of the three tours would be responsible for the so-called “inside-the-ropes” operations of its own tour — site selection, tournament operations, rules enforcement, and so on.
What was the background?
LIV, funded by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, was formed following a series of discussions between PGA Tour and Saudi officials.
The rival circuit launched in 2022 and has lured a number of big-name players from the PGA Tour, including Hall of Fame golfer Phil Mickelson, former world number one Dustin Johnson, reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Australian Cameron Smith.
Players including Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, and Rory McIlroy – who fiercely criticised LIV – turned down eye-watering sums from LIV Golf to remain loyal to the PGA Tour.
The rift had led to a series of lawsuits and caused acrimony between players who turned to LIV and others. The PGA Tour suspended members who competed in LIV tournaments without permission, while the DP World Tour fined players.
Monahan said last June that golfers should be “ashamed” for joining the LIV Tour.
“They are helping the Saudi regime ‘sportswash’ their reputation in return for tens of millions of dollars, at the very same time our government is rolling out more damning evidence of Saudi culpability in the 9/11 attacks.”
What has the reaction been to the deal?
The bombshell announcement was slammed by many PGA Tour players. US media reported that they had been kept in the dark about the merger until the news broke on Tuesday.
Monahan described a closed-door meeting on Tuesday with players who had stayed loyal to the PGA Tour as “intense” and “heated”.
“I recognise that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” he said, but added that “circumstances do change”.
American Wesley Bryan and others said players were upset at finding out over Twitter.
“Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer. 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.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said the merger is “more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing”.
“It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record,” Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s head of priority campaigns and individuals at risk, said.
“Away from the glamour of the golf courses and the TV cameras there’s been mounting repression in Saudi Arabia, with government critics and human rights activists arrested, a spate of unfair trials, and with the death penalty widely used, including as a tool of political repression.”
In Washington, DC, a group representing the families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks also accused Monahan and the PGA Tour of “hypocrisy and greed”.
South Korea’s An Byeong-hun tweeted that the deal was a win for the tours but not for the players. “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money,” he said. “Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”
However, the merger was given swift backing by six-time major winner Mickelson, the most prominent of the defectors to LIV.
“Awesome day today,” tweeted Mickelson.
Bryson DeChambeau, the former US Open champion who was one of the first big names to sign up for LIV Golf, said he felt “bad” for the players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour.
He deflected a question about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record but said the merger was “the best thing that could ever happen to the game of golf”.
What uncertainties remain?
It remains to be seen whether the deal will be finalised, as it is still a “framework”. The PGA Tour’s policy board – which includes McIlroy and four other players – has to approve the final arrangements.
McIlroy is set to make a statement on Wednesday.
No details were given as to how the agreement will affect the current competitive golf landscape, including eligibility for this year’s Ryder Cup, though the parties did say they will work in the coming months to finalise the terms of the merger.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
