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Tuesday’s bombshell news that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf would merge in order to "unify the game of golf, on a global basis" took almost everybody by surprise.
The agreement ends "two years of disruption and distraction" between the PGA and the Saudi-backed invitational while creating a "transformational partnership" between the three entities.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan after the final round of The Players Championship on March 12, 2023, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While many are unhappy with the agreement, one ESPN analyst is a big fan of the move.
PGA TOUR ANNOUNCES LANDMARK MERGER WITH SAUDI-BACKED LIV GOLF
"I love it. I love it," Stephen A. Smith said Tuesday. "And I want to take a moment to do something that I’d ever thought I do on national television and that’s give PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan some love and some credit here.
"This is smart business on his part. Make no mistake about it."
Despite LIV Golf receiving a ton of backlash following their inception, Smith said he never had a problem with where LIV received its funding as the "United States of America does business with Saudi Arabia."
"So, if our government can do business with them, and folks aren't making so much noise about that, why are you making noise about golfers? I never wanted to hear that. I never took that issue seriously," Smith said.
Stephen A. Smith attends SiriusXM at Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 9, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
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"This is America. We’re in a capitalistic society. We do business globally not just nationally. That’s the way of the world. So for me, to see the PGA commissioner, Jay Monahan, really come to his senses and go about the business of making sure to omit and eradicate these lawsuits … I think it was a beautiful, beautiful thing. I absolutely loved it."
The news of the merger broke shortly after 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, with Monahan releasing a statement regarding the partnership.
"This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans," Monahan said in a press release.
A sign sits on the practice range during the LIV Golf Invitational - Tulsa at Cedar Ridge Country Club on May 13, 2023, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
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He continued, "Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future."
The new agreement will merge the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) golf-related businesses, which include LIV Golf, with that of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour into a "new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players."
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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