With those two words, Rory McIlroy summed up the mood of the stunned global golfing community as it absorbed the news that the US-based PGA Tour was partnering with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf.
For almost two years, McMcIlroy acted as the PGA’s frontman as it battled to stem the flood of players abandoning the traditional tour in favour of the petrodollar millions offered by LIV, a breakaway competition bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Established in 2021, LIV had upended the genteel world of golf, triggering legal disputes and shattering years-long friendships on the tour. Yet until this week, it was the upstart struggling to secure prime TV coverage and big commercial deals. Top players such as McIlroy and Tiger Woods remained loyal to the PGA as the golfing world endured a toxic split.
But the deal announced this week — under which the PIF could pump around $3bn into a new entity backed by the world’s biggest professional golf tour — elevated LIV to the sport’s top table. The financial firepower of Riyadh’s $650bn PIF had won the day.
