How PGA-LIV union will play out revealed in filing

A filing describing the merger of the PGA Tour with Saudi-backed LIV Golf shows the deal’s broad outlines, but also how much of the biggest union in golf history still needs to be worked out.

The five-page provisional agreement, filed to U.S. lawmakers and reviewed by Bloomberg News, was provided ahead of a July 11 hearing by a Senate panel investigating the merger. It discloses new details about the understanding between the two golf circuits but leaves out fundamental financial provisions of the merger, as they seek to value their respective assets. 

The U.S. golf circuit will maintain a controlling voting interest in the new entity. PGA Tour Chairman Jay Monahan will be chief executive officer, while the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, will head the board, according to the filing. 

PIF will pitch in golf assets, including those of LIV Golf, along with a cash investment in exchange for equity ownership in the entity dubbed NewCo in the framework agreement. The fund will pump in additional money with a right of first refusal on capital raised by NewCo.