How the US election could impact whether LIV Golf-PGA merger goes through

The upcoming presidential election could shape the future of golf’s civil war, it has been claimed.

The sport has been riven since LIV Golf, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, launched a breakaway league and began poaching playing from the PGA and DP World Tours.

A framework agreement to merge the warring factions was announced in June 2023. Since then, talks have dragged on over a possible deal which would see PIF pump more than $1billion into the PGA Tour.

The political response to any deal could reportedly hinge on who wins next month’s election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. 

According to legal experts, cited by The Athletic, the two candidates for the White House would likely take different approaches to a future agreement.

The aim, outlined by PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, was to ‘reunify the world of men’s professional golf’.

But Monahan’s claim that the deal would ‘take the competitor off the board’ sparked antitrust concerns, with The Athletic claiming ‘those red flags raised by the DOJ (Department of Justice) have not disappeared’. 

The next administration will reportedly have the power to ‘dictate the priorities of the DOJ’ and experts believe that there is a much greater chance of a merger going through should Trump win.

The Republican nominee has hosted a number of LIV Golf events and he previously urged golfers to ‘take the money’ from the Saudi-funded breakaway. The PIF also reportedly invested $2billion into the private equity firm of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are among the stars caught in the sport’s civil war

Moreover, the former President has ‘never been particularly respectful of anticompetitive regulations,’ it is said.

It is thought that Harris, on the other hand, would stay in line with the Biden administration. Under this regime, the DOJ has reportedly shown a reluctance to reduce competition in other industries. 

‘I don’t think the DOJ is going to be OK with these two combining,’ one expert told The Athletic.

Only the courts, rather than a president, can decide if a merger is illegal but administrations can influence whether a deal is challenged.

Once any agreement is put forward, the DOJ will begin its review into whether any antitrust violations have occurred.