The PGA Tour will retain oversight of its tournaments after its merger with the Saudi Arabia-controlled Public Investment Fund, which runs LIV Golf. The same goes for the European tour, which is also part of the merger.
As part of the deal, the Private Investment Fund (PIF) will invest billions of dollars in a new commercial entity that will bring together all the global professional tours, and pending litigation between the parties will cease.
The PGA Tour said in a news release it will stay as a tax-exempt nonprofit and it "retains administrative oversight of events for those assets contributed by the PGA Tour, including the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other 'inside the ropes' responsibilities."
Jay Monahan will remain commissioner of the tour and Ed Herlihy will stay as chair of the tour's Policy Board. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, will join the Policy Board. The European tour, known as the DP World Tour, and LIV Golf will retain similar administrative oversight of events on their respective tours.
"A lot of people have been reading about the tension," Monahan said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC. "And we've talked a lot, and I said previously that we were going down our path and they were going down theirs. And today, that tension goes away. The litigation is dropped. We're announcing to the world that on behalf of this game, we're coming together.
"And it's less about how people respond today, and it's all about how people respond in 10 years. When they see the impact that we're having on this game together, there will be a lot of smiles on people's faces and there'll a lot more people playing this game all over the world; and if you're a young player that wants to get to the highest level of the game today, you'll be more inspired than you've ever been."
Al-Rumayyan will become chairman of the board of directors for the new commercial entity. Monahan will be CEO. The full board will be announced at a later date, the PGA Tour said, but the new entity's board will also include an executive committee of Al-Rumayyan, Monahan, Herlihy and PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne.
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