PGA Tour-LIV Golf Merger Could Be In Danger After Senator Announces Investigation

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The dust is still settling in the wake of the blockbuster merger that brought together two formerly bitter rivals after the PGA Tour and LIV Golf agreed to a truce in the form of the merger that was announced earlier this month.

While the PGA Tour loyalists who declined to defect to LIV Golf were understandably less than thrilled with the manner in which that development came to fruition, it appears the two sides are set to push forward as one entity despite the lingering tensions that will need to be addressed at some point in time.

The backlash to the merger hasn’t exclusively stemmed from members of the golf community, as one Congressional representative used it as an excuse to introduce a bill that could strip the PGA Tour of the tax-exempt status it has long enjoyed.

It was also hard to ignore the many parallels concerning how the merger went down and the plot of HBO’s Succession, and those similarities have only been reinforced thanks to what transpired on Monday.

According to Politico‘s Anthony Adragna, Senator Richard Blumenthal has informed the PGA Tour he plans to conduct an investigation into the merger while citing LIV Golf’s well-documented link with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund as the onus for the inquiry.

The Democrat representing the people of Connecticut has requested that all parties involved in the merger hand over documents, records, and communications related to the agreement by June 26th.

At this point, it’s a bit premature to predict how the investigation could impact the merger, although legal experts have already highlighted the antitrust laws the United States government could turn to if regulators determine there are red flags that merit a more in-depth examination of the machinations of the deal and its implications.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how everything pans out.