Asian Tour awaits any fallout from the golf war truc

CEO admits he doesn’t know exactly ‘how and when’ the tournament will be involved in the new PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger
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Two years before the US PGA Tour succumbed to Saudi Arabia’s financial might, a far smaller golf circuit took the cash — minus player exodus, legal battles and public outcry. For Asian Tour commissioner Cho Minn Thant, the $200mn commitment from Saudi-backed LIV Golf back in October 2021 was meant to transform the circuit’s standing on the global stage and allow it to break free from the dominance of the PGA Tour and its European counterpart. LIV Golf was establishing a team-based format and luring top golfers from the US and European Tours — upending the balance of power in the sport and creating a divide that threatened to tear the sport apart. So, when the PGA Tour recently decided it could no longer afford the costly power battle — and Saudi-backed LIV realised the ferocity of the dispute was limiting its ability to win over broadcasters and sponsors — they worked out a truce. The two sides are now fleshing out a formal agreement that is structured as a merger of their commercial interests. Thant was preparing for a board meeting in Singapore when he first heard about the shock partnership between his biggest financial backer and what was meant to be the competition. “The first question that our board members had was, ‘Hey, are they suddenly going to forget about the Asian Tour? Where do we stand?’” Although the commissioner was aware that LIV wanted to put an end to the war, he was caught off guard by the announcement. “That was probably the most surprising thing, how they kept it under wraps,” Thant says. “Usually, in the golf industry, there are no secrets.” He has not yet been part of the merger discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), but