PGA and European tours unveil 13-year joint venture

LOS ANGELES: The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced a 13-year operational joint venture on Tuesday, uniting in a tighter alliance to combat the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

The new partnership through 2035 follows a strategic alliance unveiled last November that saw co-sanctioning of the Scottish Open, Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship events to provide more playing opportunities.

There will also be a defined path for players to move from the DP World

Tour (formerly European Tour) to the PGA Tour.

From 2023, the top 10 players in the season-ending

DP World Tour rankings will earn PGA Tour cards for the following season.

“We are thrilled with today’s announcement of this expanded partnership,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said during a video news conference with DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley.

“We will continue to collaborate on a global schedule and key commercial areas as we draw our organisations and memberships even closer together while innovating to provide the most entertaining and compelling golf possible to fans around the world.”

The move is also aimed at boosting prize money on both tours and comes as LIV Golf has lured away top players with the richest purses in golf history.

LIV Golf debuted in England earlier this month and its second event is set to tee off today at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon.

They feature 54-hole formats with shotgun starts and team and individual competitions.

Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia are among the players who have opted for LIV Golf despite concerns over human rights issues by the Saudi financiers.

The PGA Tour banned 17 members and former members who played in the first LIV event and warned that more indefinite suspensions would follow for players taking part in subsequent tournaments.

In the wake of more recent player departures, the PGA Tour announced plans for higher prize money in several events and three new international tournaments with large purses.

As part of the new joint venture, the PGA Tour will increase its stake in the DP World Tour from 15 percent to 40 percent.