A DP World Tour sign at the 2021 Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
USA TODAY Sports asked the PGA Tour about removing the word “merge” from a secondary headline in its initial press release.
Neal of the PGA Tour said she hadn’t been aware of the removal and asked her digital team about it. She said that team replied by saying it was simply an editorial decision to unclutter the page and avoid redundancy.
“We removed it because it basically said the same thing as the (main) headline,” the team said.
The main headline above it read, “PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce newly formed commercial entity to unify golf.”
The Saudi Arabian PIF behind LIV Golf still is using the original press release with the word “merge,” as of Thursday afternoon.
And while speculation abounds about whether LIV Golf will continue to exist, that appears to be up to the board of directors of the new entity, which itself is a combination of the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF, with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan set to become chairman and Monahan the CEO, according to the press release.
The release said the PGA Tour still will appoint a majority of the board, while the PIF will initially be the “exclusive investor in the new entity, alongside the Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour.” The PIF also will have a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour, the release stated.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
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