The winners and losers from golf’s sudden ceasefire

War is over.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf have surrendered their arms and brokered a peace deal that, just 24 hours ago, appeared as remote as Point Nemo.

Each of the three parties will publicly claim this as a victory and, in the interests of harmony and goodwill, will likely do so unchallenged by the other two.

However, as the dust settles and the details start to emerge, there are already some clear winners and losers amidst this truce…

WINNERS

Saudi Arabia

For all of the opposition, sportswashing accusations, and indignant resistance, the one-time pariah state now, to all intents and purposes, owns men’s professional golf. It’s a spectacular, recently unimaginable victory. Saudi Arabia has craved legitimacy in order to demonstrate that it’s more than its awful reputation. In partnering with one of the biggest and richest sports organsations in the United States, it now has that legitimacy. Fans of other sports, particularly those who follow the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS and NHL, must surely be wondering if they’re next.

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The Ryder Cup

The biennial clash stood to suffer most collateral damage from this whole mess. It has already seen captains come and go, has been a source of much uncertainty over who can and cannot play, and, worst of all, has seen several cornerstones of recent matches unceremoniously ostracised. Think whatever you like about Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia and the way that they have conducted themselves over the last year; the prospect of none of them getting to captain the European team never felt right. With any luck, that’s a concern we can now disregard.

PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce newly formed
commercial entity to unify golf.

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 6, 2023

The DP World Tour

It’s not all that long ago that the former European Tour was forced to make a choice between siding with either the PGA Tour or the Saudis, a “Sophie’s Choice” that Keith Pelley & Co., still reeling from the aftershock of Covid, could have done without. Now, they get to work with them both. At face value, that would appear to be a huge win.

Golf fans

Besides being unable to watch all of the best players playing together (outside of the majors), there was a growing sense that some golf fans were becoming jaded and disfranchised by the division. Conflict is exhausting. Hopefully, this ceasefire will shift the focus away from “antitrust violations” and back to the things that really matter, like Deer Antler Spray and hoodies.

Phil Mickelson

He might not have gone about it the right way – the FIGJAM has been absolutely off the charts – but if Phil Mickelson’s agenda the whole time was to “leverage” a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates” then he has succeeded. For perhaps the first time ever, he’s taken a gamble and won.

LOSERS

Rory McIlroy

And, for that matter, every other player who was offered a deal by LIV but chose to stay ‘loyal’ to the PGA Tour. They are entitled to feel bitter and betrayed – but McIlroy more than most. The four-time major champ’s position on all this has been comprehensively documented. He has, over the last 12 months, acted as a heatshield for Jay Monahan, copping the flak whilst the man employed to represent him hid from view. He has behaved, rightly or wrongly, as a de facto player-commissioner. Of course, it would be naïve to think he hasn’t been generously compensated for his fealty and, initially at least, his sense of aggravation translated positively into his play. Don’t forget, he won the RBC Canadian Open in the week that the first LIV event took place. However, as time has gone on, the burden of being Monahan’s Sandor Clegane has told, leaving him fatigued and playing beneath his own capabilities. For a man who has lost so much of what should have been his peak years, he’s entitled to look back on the last 12 months and wonder what it was all for.

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Greg Norman

Much like it was during last year’s 150th Open celebrations, Norman’ name was conspicuous by its absence from yesterday’s announcement, prompting immediate speculation over his position. The fact it took him almost eight hours to comment did little to douse the flames of the “Greg’s Gone” bonfire. He called it “a great day in global golf for players and fans alike”, adding “the journey continues” – but will it do so without him? Quite possibly. If golf is about to move into a new peaceful, conciliatory era, it’s hard to imagine it doing so with war-time figureheads, still bloodied and bitter from the battlefield.

A great day in global golf for players and fans alike. The journey continues!!

— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) June 6, 2023

Lawyers

One thing upon which everybody can surely agree is that money leaving the game to pay for grandstanding pontificators is not a good thing. Mercifully, it looks like that particular runaway gravy train has been derailed. According to the official release, the merger brings a “mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties”. In other words, pack up your briefcase, Ally McBeal. The show’s over.

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Jay Monahan

If the PGA Tour commissioner survives this stunning episode, it’ll be an act of escapism greater than anything Harry Houdini ever did. He hasn’t just taken an opposite stance to LIV Golf. He has taken a belligerent, aggressive, pugnacious opposite stance. From disingenuously referring to it as the ‘Saudi Golf League’ in official communication with the PGA Tour membership, to the false equivalence he drew between the start-up and the 9/11 terror attacks, to the disregard he showed for half of his players with the creation of a new two-tier tour schedule, to even ignoring an approach from the masterminds of LIV to work with and not against the PGA Tour at the outset of it all, Monahan has bungled his way through this whole thing. And as a reward, he wants to give himself a promotion? Absurd.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor