PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf merger: Paul McGinley on the key questions facing golf

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Paul McGinley looked at some of the biggest issues facing men’s golf following the news that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf’s Saudi backers had come to an agreement over the future of the men’s professional game

Former Ryder Cup captain and Sky Sports Golf expert Paul McGinley assess the key questions facing men’s golf following the news of the merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf with the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund…

• How Saudi Arabia became such a big player in sport
• McIlroy: I still hate LIV | ‘Must be consequences for rebel players’
• PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf agree to stunning merger

“Players in Europe are going to be thinking this strategic alliance [with the PGA Tour] is great. ‘Boy am I glad we had that in place because that puts us at the top table and gives us access to this incredible amount of funds as well.’

“But it’s so much complexity here, and to bring a divided sport – which is what it has been for the last 12 months – and a diluted sport with two leagues going on, to try to bring those together and make it equitable and make it fair.”

“The guys who went over to LIV obviously got paid huge amounts of money. Some of them got reportedly hundreds of millions of dollars to go over there, so how do you make that fair for somebody like Rory McIlroy who has not taken that money and stayed loyal?

“It’s not just about the top players, there are some players who were paid to go to LIV who were really far down the rankings.

“So, if you are going to make it equitable then how far down do you keep paying all the guys who remained loyal before you get to a stage everyone is on an equal footing again before you can go forward?

“You’re dealing with probably 700 or 800 golfers here [including the Korn Ferry and Challenge Tours], and that’s aside from the commercial partners.

“This is going to really test the executive in the game, not just in terms of coming up with a vision but communicating that to the players and trying to bring them along so there is not another fracture that develops. That could easily happen, so they need to move very slowly from here.”

“I don’t think anybody knows how we see it. We weren’t privy to those top-level negotiations which went on between the Saudis, the PGA Tour and Keith Pelley on behalf of the DP World Tour. I think everything is on the table. READ MORE