A lot of words are being thrown around to describe what happened in the world of golf on Tuesday: Shocking, stunning, hypocritical (from the critics), to name a few. One thing clear, though, is that "Tuesday was unlike any other [day] in golf history," writes Brendan Quinn at the Athletic. "In a snap, without warning, the entire professional sport changed both structurally and fundamentally." The reference, of course, is to the out-of-nowhere announcement that the PGA is reversing itself and merging with Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf tour.
- The deal: Quinn's story has the details of how PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan secretly met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (which bankrolls the LIV). The two hit it off quickly and struck a deal after only their second meeting, all of which somehow remained under wraps until Monahan's announcement Tuesday. The negotiating unfolded in the last two months.
- The cash: Many, many details of the deal are still to be worked out, but one basic view is that the PGA needed money in a bad way (in part to compete with the LIV), and the Saudis have a ton of it. "The merger is the latest sign that money can overwhelm almost any other force in professional sports," writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. He notes that when the LIV launched, Monahan lambasted it publicly, calling out the Saudis' human rights record and even suggesting that golfers who migrated to the LIV would be betraying 9/11 victims because most of the attackers were Saudi citizens.