Tour insider details PGA’s ‘goal’ with LIV merger

In June 2023, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced a framework agreement to merge both professional tours. Following intense negotiations for over a year, fans are still eagerly awaiting the merger.

Cohen Private Venture's Steve Cohen is a well-respected sports entrepreneur. Known for owning the New York Mets, he also owns the New York Golf Club that competes in the Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy-founded TGL league. At a media event this week, Cohen shared his views on the PGA Tour and its goals for the proposed merger.

Earlier this year, Cohen became an investor in the PGA Tour Enterprises. He said (via Bunkered):

"It’s a lot of moving parts and I think we’ll get there. The goal is to reunite all the players – it’s fragmented right now. Getting to play in one tournament, one venue, whatever it is, is exciting.”

Despite receiving a cash injection worth a whopping $3 billion from the Strategic Sports Group in January, the PGA Tour is seeking additional funding from LIV Golf's primary financier, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

Cohen said that the issue is in the way it is being run. He believes that the operations could be made more efficient while increasing profitability. The Mets owner claimed that golf has "a lot of stuff going on that needs to be worked out."

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Phil Mickelson disagreed with LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger

Phil Mickelson during the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship Finals - Source: Imagn

Phil Mickelson left the PGA Tour in 2022 to captain LIV Golf's HyFlyers GC team for a reported $200 million. In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, the 12-time Presidents Cup star claimed that a merger is not necessary to unite players.

He said (via Golf.com in July):

“I don’t know if it’s necessary. I know that a few years ago it was not an option to have elevated events. It was not an option for players to have equity. ... The competition that both tours are providing is elevating both tours. So is it necessary that there’s a merger? Probably not. But it would be a good thing if there wasn’t any hostility.”

Mickelson took the example of Bryson DeChambeau as a reason why both tours should remain separate entities. He said LIV Golf enables players to engage with fans more over social media. The former PGA Tour star added (via Golf.com):

"And it wasn’t an option for players to transcend social media markets and create YouTube channels and have their own social media posts the way Bryson [DeChambeau] has done. And the way Bryson has brought golf and this cool, hip vibe to so many people on YouTube. That wasn’t an option. So until LIV happened, none of that was going to happen. Now because of LIV those are all happening.”

As it stands, the 2025 LIV Golf season is set to get underway on February 6.