How The Whole LIV Golf Saga Unfolded

By: Derek Clements | Wed 07 Jun 2023

AS WE digest the shock news of the merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf, it is worth taking some time to reflect on how this whole sorry saga has played out.

Keith Pelley Jay Monahan

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

October 2021: Private meeting with golf media members took place to outline plans for a new Saudi Arabia-backed golf series with Greg Norman as the expected commissioner.
March 2022: Schedule is announced. The CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf Investments says the league would rival the PGA Tour.
May 10, 2022: PGA Tour denies players permission to play in London.
May 31, 2022: Centurion Golf Club field announced, with Dustin Johnson the main contender.
June 6, 2022: Phil Mickelson’s name wasn’t on the initial list of players but he makes his return.
June 9, 2022: PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspends players who opt to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
June 11, 2022: Charl Schwartzel wins first LIV Golf event with a one-stroke victory at the Centurion Club.
June 21, 2022: Brooks Koepka signs with LIV Golf.
August 2, 2022: Mickelson among 11 LIV Golf players filing lawsuit against PGA Tour.
August 16, 2022: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy host players only meeting at BMW Championship to discuss the continued encroachment of the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
August 30, 2022: Open champion Cam Smith signs with LIV Golf.
September 28, 2022: Jay Monahan shoots down idea of PGA Tour, LIV Golf coexisting.
October 5, 2022: LIV Golf adds ‘strategic alliance’ with developmental MENA Tour in effort to gain Official World Golf Ranking points.
October 6, 2022: LIV Golf members will not earn Official World Golf Ranking points in Bangkok or Jeddah, as OWGR review changes to MENA Tour.
October 29, 2022: R&A will not ban eligible LIV players from 2023 Open.
October 30, 2022: Dustin Johnson leads 4Aces GC to first LIV championship.
November 15, 2022: Rory McIlroy says ‘Greg Norman needs to go’.
November 29, 2022: Tiger Woods also says Greg Norman has to go.
December 16, 2022: LIV Golf’s Chief Operating Officer Atul Khosla resigns.
December 20, 2022: Augusta National to allow eligible LIV players at 2023 Masters.
January 19, 2023: LIV Golf, The CW Network agree on multi-year TV deal.
January 26, 2023: Jonathan Grella resigns as chief communications officer.
February 17, 2023: LIV Golf’s anti-trust lawsuit against PGA Tour handed severe blow in federal court.
March 1, 2023: PGA Tour approves radical schedule changes, reducing fields in elevated events and ending cuts.
May 3, 2023: Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland officially resign from DP World Tour.
May 4, 2023: U.S. Department of Justice investigating former President Donald Trump’s ties to LIV Golf.
May 17, 2023: Mickelson and other LIV Golf players interviewed for Justice Department’s PGA Tour investigation.
May 18, 2023: Judge grants LIV Golf stay of discovery pending appeal, rules against PGA Tour in latest filing.
June 6, 2023: PGA Tour merges with Saudi Arabia-backed rival LIV Golf to form new global golf entity.