Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa has admitted that he found out about the sensational PGA and LIV Golf merger on Twitter.
Morikawa, 26, has five PGA Tour wins and was the subject of relentless rumours about joining LIV Golf last year. He now, in a way, finally has as LIV and the PGA have agreed to merge, ending their rivalry with a shock deal, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Sahith Theegala, per Sports Illustrated, was similarly shocked. "Just craziness, I mean I'm sure there's a reason for it but it's not going to be a good enough reason for the utter lack of communication. I mean how are top ten players in the world finding out on Twitter."
For Morikawa, as for the rest of the world, the news came out of the blue, judging by his social media activity in the immediate aftermath. "I love finding out morning news on Twitter," he tweeted. "And everyone thought yesterday was the longest day in golf."
There, he is referring to the US Open final qualifying. That took place on Monday and has 645 players compete across ten venues for Open spots in what is known as 'Golf's Longest Day'.
Morikawa's comments tally with reports from Shane Bacon, the host of the 'Get a Grip' podcast, who alleges to have been told by multiple PGA Tour players that they were not given advance notice before the announcement.
The shock news came just nine days before the US Open starts on 15 June. Further details about the deal are set to be released in due course as the terms of the agreement are finalised over the coming months.
Both PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which owns LIV Golf, are quoted in Tuesday's announcement. “After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said.
“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 organisation that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.
"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.
“We are pleased to move forward, in step with LIV and PIF’s world-class investing experience, and I applaud PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for his vision and collaborative and forward-thinking approach that is not just a solution to the rift in our game, but also a commitment to taking it to new heights. This will engender a new era in global golf, for the better.”
