Getty Image / Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire/Michael Wade
The prospect of a LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger of some sort is reported to have gotten closer after a pivotal meeting in New York City last week.
This came after months of inactivity but it now appears as if there will be some sort of a path for LIV Golf Tour members to compete in PGA Tour events at some point in the future and this has reportedly not sat well with many on the PGA Tour where some golfers have claimed the LIV golfers should have to give back their money in order to compete on the PGA Tour.
Full stop. That’s never happening. Not in a million years. The stars that left for LIV Golf saw the cards on the table and played their hand to take the guaranteed millions, more than they were likely to make on the PGA Tour, and split. That money is theirs and there’s no a shot in heck that they’d surrender it to compete on the PGA Tour.
There’s been a lot of commentary in the past few days about all of this including Rory McIlroy ‘saying the quiet part out loud’ and admitting only about half of the players on LIV and half the player on the PGA Tour want the merger to happen:
Rory estimates maybe only half of players on the PGA Tour, as well as half of the players on LIV, even want a PGAT-PIF deal to happen pic.twitter.com/MnKrh5128X
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) September 18, 2024
PGA Tour Golfer Michael Kim Puts Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour-LIV Golf Merger Comments In Context
Rory went on to say he believes the tours want it to happen and the investors ‘certainly’ want it to happen. That much is obvious because it just brings more centralized money to a deeply fractured sport. But PGA Tour member Michael S. Kim (Cal Bears alum) had some insight into Rory’s comments that went viral on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Michael Kim wrote:
“Do I want a deal? My short answer is No but I don’t care much.”
“Whether the tour and LIV make a deal or not, it will not affect my bottom line. It won’t change my schedule in the slightest bit and won’t change my earnings. This realistically only affects the top 30ish golfers on the pgatour and that they’ll prob make more money after this deal.”
“You can make the argument that if the players come back, it’ll be better for the PGA Tour, and bring more interest but I find that hard to believe. It’s not gonna be a big mashup, it’s only going to be for a few events with a big purse if I were to guess. How many LIV guys actually affect ratings and events? Phil, Bryson, Rahm? Will it increase ratings and earnings by more than 1%? Sure the first couple events would be cool but after that? I might be totally wrong but that’s my opinion. What’ll make a much bigger difference is how to make the TV product much better.”
“I just think there needs to be consequence to their decision to leave and SUE the tour. You can call that petty but the LIV guys sued the PGA Tour mainly for their PIP money. The same PGA Tour that was the reason why you even got the big payday in the first place. That’s just as petty in my eyes.”
These are, of course, the words of only one man on the PGA Tour. But to hear from someone other than Rory McIlroy and to hear his response to Rory is important as Kim has 1 PGA Tour win in 220 starts (100 cuts made) and is much more indicative of the ‘every man’ playing on the PGA Tour.
The top 30 PGA Tour players would almost certainly benefit from a LIV Golf merger coming to fruition because it would bring Bryson, Brooks, Rahm, etc. back into the fold and likely sweeten the pot for the Tour’s designated events. That wouldn’t ring true for the rest the PGA Tour membership who would still be on the outside looking in during the designated events.
In terms of whether or not players outside of Phil, Bryson, and Rahm would move the needled after a PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger, I think it’s tough to predict. There would certainly be a large bump in the first few events as fans would tune in for the drama but it’s hard to know what the ratings would look like beyond that.
The ratings would certainly dwarf LIV as the PGA Tour has network television and streaming deals that are vastly superior to LIV Golf. But would they set records for the sport? It’s hard to know for sure.