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Two-time pga tour winner grayson murray dies saturday morning.

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Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, the Tour confirmed.

Murray withdrew Friday late in his second round at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, citing an illness.

There were no immediate details on the circumstances surrounding his death. (Update: The family released a statement Sunday morning related to Murray’s death.)

In a memo to the membership that was released Saturday afternoon, commissioner Jay Monahan wrote: “I am at a loss for words. The PGA Tour is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same. There is nothing we can do but mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.”

Monahan said that, after a conversation with Murray’s parents, tournament play at Colonial would continue.

“They were adamant that Grayson would want us to do so,” said Monahan, who flew to Texas to meet with players. “As difficult as it will be, we want to respect their wishes.”

Murray won the Sony Open in a playoff earlier this year, ending a six-year winless drought during which he’d struggled both mentally and physically.

Murray, who was profiled in this in-depth piece by Golf Channel in 2017, had been open about his battles with anxiety and depression. He said in January that he sought treatment in the past few years for alcohol abuse but had been sober for several months.

“Grayson was the absolute best,” his caddie, Jay Green, told GolfChannel.com via text message. “Not only was he an incredible, thoughtful and generous boss, he was an even better friend. He truly would do anything for anyone. He has the best family, and my heart goes out to them. We will all miss him deeply.”

Following his victory at Waialae, Murray spoke optimistically about his future, saying that he had rediscovered his faith and was engaged to be married to Christiana Ritchie, whom he met in 2021.

“I wouldn’t trade anything,” Murray said at the time. “I have a beautiful fiancée. I have beautiful parents. I have beautiful nephews, siblings. Everyone in my life right now who is close to me, who has been through the struggles with me, it’s all a team effort. I think this is just the start of something really special.”

Growing up, Murray was one of the best prospects in the country, winning the prestigious Junior Worlds three times and becoming, at age 16, then the second-youngest to make the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. Though he bounced around in college, Murray made an immediate impact once he landed on the PGA Tour, claiming the 2017 Barbasol Championship as a 22-year-old rookie.

“Best thing and worst thing that ever happened to me was winning my rookie year but also feeling like I was invincible,” Murray said in January. He said he often drank to excess while at tournaments while battling his personal demons.

Murray, who spent time on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours over the last five years, regained his PGA Tour status this year after winning twice on the secondary circuit in 2023 and believed he was better equipped to handle the challenges of Tour life.

“It took me a long time to get to this point,” he said. “That was over seven years ago. I’m a different man now.”

Ranked 58th in the world, Murray had made the cut in the first two majors of the year, including last week at the PGA Championship, where he tied for 43 rd . He was exempt into next month’s U.S. Open.

“We will hold off on commenting until we learn further details,” said his management company, GSE, in a statement, “but our heart aches for his family, his friends and all who loved him during this very difficult time.”

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PGA Tour strikes $3 billion deal with Fenway-led investment group. Players to get equity ownership

FILE - PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan speaks during a news conference before the Travelers Championship golf tournament at TPC River Highlands, June 22, 2022, in Cromwell, Conn. The PGA Tour is getting a $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group in a deal that would give players access to more than $1.5 billion as equity owners in the new PGA Tour Enterprises. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the announcement expected to be released Wednesday morning, Jan. 31, 2024. Monahan was holding a conference call with players about the deal that was finalized Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Jordan Spieth answers questions during a news conference at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

FILE - Boston Red Sox owner John Henry attends an NBA basketball game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Boston. The PGA Tour is getting a $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group in a deal that would give players access to more than $1.5 billion as equity owners in the new PGA Tour Enterprises. SSG is led by Fenway Sports Group. Our enthusiasm for this new venture stems from a very deep respect for this remarkable game and a firm belief in the expansive growth potential of the PGA Tour,” said Henry, the principal owner of Fenway Sports and manager of SSG. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank discusses the decision to dismiss head coach Arthur Smith during a news conference Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - The PGA Tour logo is shown during a press conference in Tokyo, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. The PGA Tour is getting a $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group in a deal that would give players access to more than $1.5 billion as equity owners in the new PGA Tour Enterprises. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the announcement expected to be released Wednesday morning, Jan. 31, 2024. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was holding a conference call with players about the deal that was finalized Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

Patrick Cantlay holds up the ball after finishing the first round on the North Course at Torrey Pines, at the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The PGA Tour is getting a $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group in a deal announced Wednesday that would give players access to more than $1.5 billion as equity owners in the new PGA Tour Enterprises.

The launch of PGA Tour Enterprises , with SSG as a minority partner, comes eight months after the PGA Tour signed a framework agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf for a commercial venture, which ultimately led to private equity groups wanting to join.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is not part of the deal yet, though the tour said negotiations with the PIF are ongoing for it to also become a minority investor.

“The coolest thing about it is the players are now owners,” said Jordan Spieth, one of six players on the PGA Tour board. “So not only do they benefit with the tour, they now are equity owners so they want to push it themselves, they want to make the product better themselves. Not that they didn’t before, but you directly benefit from owning a piece.”

How much of a piece remained unclear. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan held a conference call with players from all its main tours (including the PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour) on Wednesday morning that included Tiger Woods, whom the tour appointed to the board last summer at the players’ request.

“As the tour grows, we grow,” Woods told players, according to Golf.com, which obtained access to the call. “So the more we invest into the tour, the more we get the benefits of it, which has never been — it’s never happened in sports history. So we’re the first. Exciting for me to be able to be part of that.”

Also uncertain is where this leaves the PIF.

The tour said its deal with SSG allows for a co-investment from the PIF, subject to regulatory approval. A Senate subcommittee wrote a letter earlier this week to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, that it is proceeding with its inquiry into framework agreement with the PGA Tour that was announced June 6.

“At this point if the PIF were interested in coming in on terms that our members like and/or the economic terms are at or not beyond SSG’s and they feel it would be a good idea, I think that’s where the discussions will start,” Spieth said. “I understand it could take some time to even come to those kind of terms, and then beyond that the Department of Justice and a regulatory review would be intact.”

LIV Golf starts its third season this week in Mexico and is likely to be around through all of next year depending on the timing of any investment by the PIF in the PGA Tour. How the fractured landscape of golf gets repaired remains as cloudy as how specifically equity ownership is distributed.

The PGA Tour plans several player meetings over the next month to work through details.

“By making PGA Tour members owners of their league, we strengthen the collective investment of our players in the success of the PGA Tour,” Monahan, who will be CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, said in the formal announcement.

He said a partnership with SSG — a group comprised of American owners and executives of pro sports franchises — will “enhance our organization’s ability to make the sport more rewarding for players, tournaments, fans and partners.”

The PGA Tour Enterprises board would be comprised of seven players, the PGA Tour commissioner, four members of SSG and an independent director who’s also on the tour board.

The unique equity program in golf would give some 200 players access $930,000 in initial grants. Starting next year, PGA Tour Enterprises would use $600,000 for recurring grants for future players.

While specific details of the equity ownership program were not announced, the initial grants would be based on career accomplishments, recent achievements and PGA Tour status. The grants would vest over time.

SSG is led by Fenway Sports Group and includes owners Marc Attanasio (Milwaukee Brewers), Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons), Steven Cohen (New York Mets), Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics), Tom Werner and John Henry (Boston Red Sox), and Marc Lasry (Milwaukee Bucks). Others in the group include Alec Scheiner, former Cleveland Browns president and co-founder of Otro Capital.

“Our enthusiasm for this new venture stems from a very deep respect for this remarkable game and a firm belief in the expansive growth potential of the PGA Tour,” said Henry, the principal owner of Fenway Sports and manager of SSG.

SSG is investing an initial $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises and will concentrate on maximizing revenue for the benefit of the players and on finding opportunities to enhance golf across the world. Another $1.5 billion would go toward PGA Tour business.

The deal was unanimously approved by the PGA Tour board.

“It was incredibly important for us to create opportunities for the players of today and in the future to be more invested in their organization, both financially and strategically,” the player directors said in a joint statement. “This not only further strengthens the tour from a business perspective, but it also encourages the players to be fully invested in continuing to deliver — and further enhance — the best in golf to our fans.

“We are looking forward to this next chapter and an even brighter future.”

The tour said it was making progress in its negotiations with the Saudi national wealth fund on future investments and an ultimate agreement. Under the original framework agreement, Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, was to be chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises.

Now the commercial arm launches without any deal with the Saudis.

The European tour was part of the framework agreement on June 6, and it has a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour. The tour said only it is discussing how they can work together for a mutual benefit.

Key to the original deal with the Saudis was dismissing the lawsuits involving LIV Golf. Since the rival league was launched in June 2022, LIV has lured several prominent players and major champions such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau.

As the tour’s negotiations with the PIF neared its original Dec. 31 deadline, LIV signed Masters champion Jon Rahm in a deal reported to be in the neighborhood of $500 million. It also signed Tyrrell Hatton, currently No. 16 in the world.

Rory McIlroy, who gave up his seat on the tour board in November, said on Tuesday he didn’t think there should be any punishment for a LIV player eligible to return to the tour.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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‘The hell is going on?’ Players, fans and others react to PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger

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PGA Tour players were not happy on Twitter.

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The golf world was rocked Tuesday morning with the game-changing news of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour merging with LIV Golf.

Golf Twitter quickly went into a frenzy.

The announcement signaled the end of a nearly two-year-long battle between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf that led to suspensions and fines for players who jumped ship to play for the new tour.

Details of the agreement are still scarce, but the news hit everyone right at the same time. Players and fans alike learned some of the biggest news ever in professional golf from Twitter.

Safe to say many PGA Tour players weren’t pleased not to get any heads up from the PGA Tour before the announcement at about 10:00 a.m ET.

And everyone thought yesterday was the longest day in golf — Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023

Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with. — Mackenzie Hughes (@MacHughesGolf) June 6, 2023

I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA TOUR for a very long time — Wesley Bryan (@wesleybryangolf) June 6, 2023

The hell is going on? — Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) June 6, 2023

Very curious how many people knew this deal was happening. About 5-7 people? Player run organization right? 🤷🏻‍♂️ — Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) June 6, 2023

I’ve grown up being a fan of the 4 Aces. Maybe one day I get to play for them on the PGA Tour! — Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) June 6, 2023

Now that we’re all friends, is it too late for us to workshop some of these team names? pic.twitter.com/O8EDVqKClz — max homa (@Maxhoma) June 6, 2023

I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years — Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) June 6, 2023

Can I also say that I love @PhilMickelson and everything he’s said the past two years has been spot on. He went up in flames in the media cuz of his brutal honesty and now everyone’s finally realizing he was right and the PGA Tour does whatever they feel like 😂😂😂 — Dylan Wu (@dylan_wu59) June 6, 2023

Was having quite the nice practice session this morning too pic.twitter.com/qWBKuM2yHO — Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) June 6, 2023

Can’t wait for the next players meeting 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🥲🤣🤣🤣🤣 @PGATOUR — Jhonattan Vegas (@JhonattanVegas) June 6, 2023

Surprised that this merger has happened so quickly but not surprised it’s happened. Definitely in the financial interest of both sides. Definitely in the financial interest of the players even though some of those who gain will feel like they’re losing. Good for the cohesion of… — Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) June 6, 2023

pic.twitter.com/dndiYfJ12u — Tyrrell Hatton (@TyrrellHatton) June 6, 2023

A few LIV golfers, like Phil Mickelson , also reacted in real-time to the announcement. Mickelson remained somewhat cryptic in response to one tweet by No Laying Up’s Chris Solomon. Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, took the chance to take a shot a Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee who had been vocal in his disdain for LIV Golf.

Awesome day today 😊 https://t.co/qUwVJiydym — Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) June 6, 2023

Not exactly — Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) June 6, 2023

Welfare Check on Chamblee — Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) June 6, 2023

Soo can I play tpc sugarloaf again? @PGATOUR — Andy Ogletree (@andy_ogletree) June 6, 2023

Time to get on the bush hog — Harold Varner III (@HV3_Golf) June 6, 2023

The story was broken by CNBC at the same time the PGA Tour sent a press release, leading to media members also reacting to the announcement with shock.

So, you preach loyalty to a tour and convince guys not to take 8 and 9 figure deals based, in part, on that loyalty and, in part, on the source of the money. Then those guys find out on Twitter YOU took the very same money? Nino Brown, “Always business, never personal.” — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) June 6, 2023

Greg Norman and Jay Monahan greeting each other at work every morning pic.twitter.com/bqVjEwDWWF — Tim Reilly (@LifeOfTimReilly) June 6, 2023

Good time make a golf show! https://t.co/AQZc4KGOdY — Chad Mumm (@chadmumm) June 6, 2023

Virtually everything that has happened in the last two years has been rumored, hinted at, or at least done with SOME awareness in the golf community. This seems to be an absolute stunner for essentially everyone, players included. — No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 6, 2023

I’ve been enjoying a little break after turning in the book – so nice to unplug. I think I’ll go camping this morning somewhere without cell reception. Feels great that I won’t have to make any major changes to the manuscript. — Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) June 6, 2023

pic.twitter.com/fOsilKo9jL — Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 6, 2023

Truly gobsmacked today. Of the 10,000 different outcomes, this was never talked about, never discussed, never even floated. Everyone who would have known was at the PGA two weeks ago, and nobody even came close to hinting at it! — Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 6, 2023

This really is our own Succession finale. In retrospect, it seems obvious. And yet still shocking. — Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 6, 2023

PGA Tour didn’t communicate this to players at all. They found out same time we did. “Shocked and confused.” “Disgusted. They didn’t tell us anything.” — Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) June 6, 2023

More people have texted me today than any other life event. — No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 6, 2023

I genuinely feel sorry for someone like Hideki Matsuyama. He reportedly turned down about $300 million … and now his loyalty to the tour doesn’t mean much — Stephen Hennessey (@S_HennesseyGD) June 6, 2023

The golf world right now.. pic.twitter.com/RRtdXFbYNJ — Smylie Kaufman (@SmylieKaufman10) June 6, 2023

Like it or not, the bottom line is that the Saudis now own golf. — Mike Francesa (@MikeFrancesa) June 6, 2023

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Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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HAMILTON, Ontario — Rookie Robert MacIntyre claimed his first PGA Tour title at the RBC Canadian Open. He did so with his father, Dougie, serving as the emergency caddie this week. It was a cool story for the two-time DP World Tour winner and member of the winning European Ryder Cup team in Rome.

But it also comes with a sweet seven-figure check. MacIntyre took home $1.692 million from a purse of $9.4 million. Not bad for a week’s work and for the 27-year-old pride of Oban, Scotland. In fact, he more than doubled his earnings for his previous 15 starts in which he had banked $1,133,146.

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How the PGA Tour’s new billion-dollar equity plan could help prevent player defections

It's no surprise that the PGA Tour’s recent deal with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) could serve as a calculated hedge against a continued spending war with LIV Golf and the Saudi Public Investment Fund. SSG is infusing billions into the new for-profit entity with the goal of making the PGA Tour bigger and more profitable—and cutting players in on some of that potential profit up-front.

However, how does that investment really work for the players— who stand to collect more than $1.5 billion in equity —in the near and long-term? According to experts in venture capital and sports entrepreneurship, the playbook appears to look a lot more like Silicon Valley than Pine Valley.

The new entity—PGA Tour Enterprises—built an equity distribution plan that looks similar to something tech companies use to protect themselves from losing their most valuable contributors to deep-pocketed competitors. "The whole idea behind restricted stock units [RSUs] is to motivate employees to stay and create more value for the business," says Matt Erley, who before founding golf start-up fund Old Tom Ventures was the head of growth at beverage-delivery startup Drizly when it was acquired by Uber. "You're acting like an owner."

In broad terms, RSUs work in two phases: how they're allocated and triggered, and how and when they vest. At a tech start-up backed by a venture capital firm, the leadership team will usually assign a certain amount of equity to be distributed each year to contributors for a variety of reasons—from simply being a member of the team to achieving a performance milestone. The rules about how and when contributors get access to the equity they've been awarded are set with strategic goals in mind.

Confirmed details about the PGA Tour's new equity plan are still murky, but we know there will be four broad categories of players earning equity stakes in this initial round: A handful of superstars like Tiger Woods will share $750 million. A second group of 64 players will share $75 million based on their past three years of performance. The third group—mostly the remaining fully-exempt current players—will share $30 million, and a group of 36 designated "founding" players will share $75 million for their historical contributions. Another $600 million will be distributed in the future through recurring grants based on factors like on-course performance and Player Impact Program finish.

The equity distribution plan looks similar to one tech companies use to protect themselves from losing their most valuable contributors to deep-pocketed competitors.

"When these plans come together smoothly, it's because all of the people in the room establishing the equity terms have the same context and metrics, and they value the same things," says Tim Marken, a consultant and growth strategist who has worked with dozens of tech, media and sports companies. "They're saying, ‘This is where we want it to go, these are the people to get us there, and this is how we measure.’ They can look at it and say, 'It costs us X to do this now, but the value this brings is Y over time.’"

Building in recurring distributions incentivizes players to remain loyal to the PGA Tour and to keep trying to move up the ladder, and offering stakes to retired heroes helps gain buy-in for the plan and avoid bruising public-relations troubles. "You usually get issues when somebody wants to be cheap," Marken says. "Somebody wants to argue that somebody didn't contribute enough to deserve a share or something like that. Look at the black eye the NFL deals with because of how it has nickel-and-dimed players from earlier generations over health care and pensions. With this deal, the PGA Tour can get the legends on board and out in front."

Previously, the PGA Tour's only enticement for a college star-in-waiting like Ludvig Aberg was to offer a quicker path to exempt status through college performance. Now, the new entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, could offer share units as a "sign-on bonus."

RELATED: PGA Tour to grant initial $930 million in equity to membership.

Equity can also be another lever in the recruitment of new players—something the PGA Tour never had to do before LIV. Previously, the PGA Tour's only enticement for a college star-in-waiting like Ludvig Aberg was to offer a quicker path to exempt status through college performance. Now, the new entity could offer share units as a sign-on bonus in the same way a tech company entices a talented software engineer from a competitor with a stock "signing bonus"—or LIV gives in the form of cash to someone like college All-American Eugenio Lopez Chacarra.

Of course, getting awarded those RSUs is just the first step in the dance. How those awards can turn from theoretical into real cash depends on a host of factors that can change from player to player, situation to situation and year to year. Certain players given larger equity stakes might have longer vesting periods for those shares or have personal or overall PGA Tour performance benchmarks that trigger an allocation of even more shares. The shares could have restrictions that prevent an active player from selling them, or even be linked to a player's retirement account and available only after an age threshold. All those details are new tools the new entity can use to keep talent and promote growth.

Even though the new PGA Tour entity shares aren't traded on any public market, there stands to be robust interest for any that do come up for sale. "It's a hot deal, and one that's hard to get a piece of," says Evan Roosevelt, Erley’s partner at Old Tom Ventures and a veteran early-stage growth strategist. "I think that question of liquidity is one that was very well thought out in the room, and there's a very sophisticated approach to creating a valuation benchmark for the PGA Tour. There's always going to be an opportunity to sell on the private market."

'This is an investment, and for the investment to work out, the pie has to grow.'

Facilitating a liquidity event like a player selling his shares isn't the only feature of the new corporate arrangement. The PGA Tour's new format also leaves room for the PIF to buy a chunk of the deal and join SSG at the table—and bring with it its virtually unlimited resources.

Still, as important as all the dollars—and the deal minutiae surrounding the equity shares—are to the players, the real stakes come with how the increased investment translates into a bigger, more popular sport. "The bottom line is that this is an investment, and for the investment to work out, the pie has to grow," Erley says. "For that pie to grow, that means more fans have to be engaged. There needs to be higher TV viewership numbers, more sponsor dollars put into the league and more innovation. These deals put the pressure on for those things to happen. I think that's a good thing for the sport, and for the people who enjoy it."

What if the pie doesn't grow? The players who earned shares won’t be completely out of luck like they would be if the distribution was in the form of stock options—which could be worthless if the options are impossible to exercise. However, there undoubtedly would be pressure to make changes to the structure—or to the management team—to recover that lost theoretical value. In the real world, that’s when takeover talk starts to happen.

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The Alliance of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour: Here’s What to Know

The details of the partnership are far from complete, according to a document outlining the framework of the deal.

By Kevin Draper

The PGA Tour, the world’s pre-eminent professional golf league, and LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded upstart whose emergence over the past year and a half has cleaved the sport in two, have agreed to join forces.

The pact is complicated and incomplete: A document submitted to Congress and obtained by The New York Times includes only a handful of binding commitments . But numerous golfers hate it, and for the moment they are directing their wrath at the architects of the deal. Let’s start from the beginning.

What are the PGA Tour and LIV Golf?

The PGA Tour holds tournaments nearly every weekend, mostly in the United States but also in other countries in North America, Europe and Asia, with prize pools worth millions of dollars. The tour has been the home to practically every male golfer you can name: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and so on.

It has relationships with, but is separate from, the organizations that stage men’s golf’s four majors: the Masters Tournament, the P.G.A. Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open. (The L.P.G.A., which runs the women’s tour, is separate.)

LIV Golf began in late 2021 with the former PGA Tour player Greg Norman as its commissioner and billions of dollars in backing from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is known as the Public Investment Fund. LIV lured several PGA Tour players, including the major champions Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, with massive purses and guaranteed payouts that far surpassed what they could earn on the established circuit.

LIV promised a sharp break from golf’s fusty traditionalism, starting with its name, which, when pronounced, rhymes with “give” but is actually the Roman numeral for 54, the number of holes played in each tournament. LIV had music blaring at its events, looser dress codes and team competitions — and tournaments that lasted three days instead of four. Further, and of particular appeal to potential players, while the PGA Tour tournaments cut golfers with the worst scores after two rounds, LIV did not cut anyone.

What was the relationship between the leagues before the deal?

Acrimonious, to put it lightly. Players who joined LIV were forced to resign from the PGA Tour — and its European equivalent, the DP World Tour — under the threat of suspension and fines. LIV sued the PGA Tour, and the PGA Tour countersued, litigation that is technically continuing (though the deal is supposed to resolve it).

PGA Tour supporters and other critics of LIV said the venture was simply an attempt by the Saudi government to distract attention from its human rights record, while LIV supporters said the PGA Tour was a monopoly that used inappropriate strong-arm tactics to protect its position in big-time sports.

And yet now they are combining?

It seems so. The PGA Tour and LIV announced on June 6 the creation of a new entity that would combine their assets, as well as those of the DP World Tour, and radically change golf’s governance.

The PGA Tour would remain a nonprofit organization and would retain full control over how its tournaments are played. But all of the PGA Tour’s commercial business and rights — such as the extremely lucrative rights to televise its tournaments — would be owned by a new, yet unnamed, for-profit entity that is currently called “NewCo.” NewCo will also own LIV as well as the commercial and business rights of the DP World Tour.

The board of directors for the new for-profit entity would be led by Yasir al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the Public Investment Fund and also oversees LIV. Three other members of the board’s executive committee would be current members of the PGA Tour’s board, and the tour would appoint the majority of the board and hold a majority voting interest, effectively controlling it.

What have they agreed on?

Not much, it turns out. The PGA Tour’s tentative deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund includes only a handful of binding commitments, such as a nondisparagement agreement and a pledge to dismiss acrimonious litigation. (The sides have already moved to end their legal fights .) What it does not include is a clear path of what lies ahead for the tours: Many of the most consequential details about the future of men’s professional golf have not been resolved, and were left to be negotiated by the end of the year.

Most crucially, the tour and the wealth fund must still come to terms on the values of the assets that each will contribute to their planned partnership. Bankers and lawyers have spent recent weeks beginning the valuation process, but a five-page framework agreement obtained by The New York Times includes no substantive details of projected figures or even the size of an anticipated cash investment from the wealth fund.

And one issue the two parties had agreed on has been removed. The framework agreement included a nonsolicitation clause, which said the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would not “enter into any contract, agreement or understanding with” any “players who are members of the other’s tour or organization.” But the two sides, facing pressure from the Justice Department, decided to abandon that clause .

When does this take effect?

First, the idea also has to be approved by the PGA Tour’s policy board, what it calls its board of directors, which includes some people who were left out of the secret negotiations for this deal in the spring.

The policy board is made up of five independent directors, including Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who helped negotiate the deal. The board also includes five players: Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Rory McIlroy and Webb Simpson.

Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said on June 6 that there was only a “framework agreement” and not a “definitive agreement,” with many details still to be decided. The definitive agreement needs a vote before it can go forward.

And for the rest of 2023, all the tours will remain separate, and all their tournaments will continue as scheduled.

And after that?

Who knows? This is how Monahan answered questions about what golf might look like in the future on the day the alliance was revealed.

Will LIV continue to exist as a separate golf league? “I don’t want to make any statements or make any predictions.”

Will LIV golfers go back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour? “We will work cooperatively to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour,” Monahan wrote in a letter to players.

Will PGA Tour players, many of whom spurned LIV and its huge paydays, receive compensation? Will LIV players somehow be forced to give up the money they were guaranteed? “I think those are all the serious conversations that we’re going to have,” Monahan told reporters.

How do players feel about all of this?

Broadly, LIV players seem to think they have gained a major victory, and they are probably right. They got their cake (huge paydays) and can eat it (a pathway to returning to the PGA Tour), too.

Mickelson, the first major player to leave for LIV, tweeted that it was an “awesome day today.” Koepka took a jab at Brandel Chamblee, a former professional golfer and current television commentator, who has been vocally anti-LIV.

Many PGA Tour players were less jubilant. They were blindsided by the news, learning of the agreement when the public did, and they did not seem to understand why the tour waged a legal war against LIV and a war of morality against Saudi money, only to invite the wolf into the henhouse.

On the day the news broke, Monahan met with a group of players in Toronto at the Canadian Open, which was set to start in two days, and afterward told reporters it was “intense, certainly heated.”

Johnson Wagner, a PGA Tour player, said on the Golf Channel that some players at the meeting called for Monahan’s resignation.

“There were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour, and even got a couple standing ovations,” he said. “I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted Commissioner Monahan from the 3M Open in Minnesota last year when he said, ‘As long as I’m commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again.’”

Wagner estimated that 90 percent of the players in the meeting were against the merger.

McIlroy, perhaps the most influential PGA Tour player not named Tiger Woods, said he was reluctantly in favor of the agreement. McIlroy said he had “come to terms” with Saudi money in golf. “Honestly, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is, you know, this is what’s going to happen,” he said.

I see a photo of former President Trump up there. Is he involved in this?

Yes, though not directly. The Trump Organization owns golf courses around the world, and Donald J. Trump has for years sought to host major tournaments on its properties. Those efforts suffered a setback after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, as the golf establishment distanced itself from the former president. Most significantly, the P.G.A. of America pulled the 2022 P.G.A. Championship from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

But Trump had cultivated unusually close ties to Saudi Arabia while president, and Saudi-backed LIV had no problem embracing him. Last year, two LIV events were held at Trump courses, and this year it will be three.

Trump’s son Eric said that the agreement between LIV and the PGA Tour was a “wonderful thing for the game of golf” and that he expected tournaments to continue to be held at Trump-owned courses. He declined to comment on whether the Trump family played any role in bringing the two parties together.

If the PGA Tour was so against LIV and Saudi money, what changed?

“Listen, circumstances change, and they’ve been changing a lot over the last couple years,” Monahan said.

Get it? No?

“What changed? I looked at where we were at that point in time, and it was the right point in time to have a conversation,” Monahan said.

Between the lines, Monahan made it sound like the agreement came down to money and competition, as it often does. To compete with LIV, the PGA Tour has enhanced purses, supported the DP World Tour financially and pursued extremely expensive litigation. “We’ve had to invest back in our business through our reserves,” Monahan said.

He also said the ability to “take the competitor off of the board” while retaining control was significant.

Can anybody else stop the deal from going through?

The Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission or the European Commission could certainly try.

For about a year, the Justice Department has been investigating the tight-knit relationship between the PGA Tour and other powerful entities in golf. Among its questions is whether the organizations have exerted improper influence over the Official World Golf Rankings, which determine players’ eligibility for certain events and can be an important factor in their success and income.

As part of their deal, LIV and the PGA Tour agreed to drop their dueling lawsuits, but doing so would not necessarily change the Justice Department’s inquiry. If there were any illegal conduct by the PGA Tour, a merger would not prevent the PGA Tour from being punished for it.

“The announcement of a merger doesn’t forgive past sins,” said Bill Baer, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division during the Obama administration.

The federal government, through the Justice Department and the F.T.C., also reviews more than 1,000 mergers for approval each year, and the European Commission reviews them for the European Union. Without a definitive agreement, it is not clear whether this might be the type of combination regulators could block or whether they would try to do so.

Saudi Arabia seems to have grand sports ambitions. Will it always remain a junior partner to the PGA Tour in golf?

As always, Saudi Arabia has the perfect vehicle to gain more control: money.

The Public Investment Fund will invest “billions,” according to its governor, al-Rumayyan, into the new for-profit entity. It will also hold “the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including 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,” according to the release announcing the agreement.

If the Public Investment Fund invests more money, it will surely demand more board seats and greater voting rights, further tilting control of men’s professional golf toward the kingdom.

Kevin Draper is an investigative reporter on the Sports desk, where he has written about workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct, doping, league investigations and high-profile court cases. More about Kevin Draper

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PGA TOUR winner Grayson Murray passes away at 30

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Grayson Murray, who won his second PGA TOUR title at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii, passed away Saturday.

"We were devastated to learn – and are heartbroken to share – that PGA TOUR player Grayson Murray passed away this morning. I am at a loss for words,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “The PGA TOUR is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same. We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.

“I reached out to Grayson’s parents to offer our deepest condolences, and during that conversation, they asked that we continue with tournament play,” Commissioner Monahan continued. “They were adamant that Grayson would want us to do so. As difficult as it will be, we want to respect their wishes.”

Grief counselors were made available at the venues for this week’s PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour events. Commissioner Monahan, who traveled from TOUR headquarters in Florida to the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, said he was "devastated" by the loss.

Grayson's parents, Eric and Terry Murray, said in a statement Sunday that the cause of death was suicide .

"Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes," his parents wrote. "By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and – it seems – by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed."

Murray, 30, was a standout golfer from his youth. He won three consecutive Callaway Junior World Championships (2006-08) and was the top-ranked golfer in his age group. He made his first cut on the Korn Ferry Tour at age 16, becoming the second-youngest player ever to do so. After stints at Wake Forest University, East Carolina University and Arizona State University, he got the break he needed in 2016 when he was given a sponsor exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour event near his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. He finished inside the top 10 at that event, the Rex Hospital Open, which qualified him for another start. When he posted another top 10 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, his professional career took off. He concluded his season with a victory at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship to finish second on the Korn Ferry Tour money list and earn full status on the PGA TOUR for the 2016-17 season. The win came a week before his 23rd birthday.

Murray wasted little time establishing himself on golf’s biggest stage as a rookie. He won the 2017 Barbasol Championship while still just 23 years old. His final-round 68 not only secured a one-shot victory, but also solidified a two-year exemption through the 2019 PGA TOUR season. He finished 66th in the FedExCup and earned nearly $1.5 million.

Grayson struggled for the next few seasons on the PGA TOUR. In 2023, he found his game again on the Korn Ferry Tour; he notched two victories – the Advent Health Championship in Kansas City and the Simmons Bank Open outside of Nashville – to finish fourth on that tour’s points list and earn a spot back onto the PGA TOUR for the following season.

Murray opened the 2024 season with a playoff victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He made a clutch up and down on the 72nd hole for a birdie to force a playoff. Then he sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Byeong Hun An and Keegan Bradley. He reached a career-high 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking after that victory.