Peter Finch tells the PGA Tour the change which should happen if LIV Golf merger goes through

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One of the big problems with buying into the reports from last week claiming that a deal has been agreed between the PGA Tour and the owners of LIV Golf is the difficulty of envisaging how the future of the game will actually look.

It was reported that LIV Golf events would be played under the PGA Tour banner, with PIF paying £1 billion for an 11 percent stake in the PGA Tour. It would be a boost for those who are desperate to see the game come back together. But there are plenty of hurdles still to clear.

Those who joined LIV are signed to contracts. So presumably, LIV will not change beyond recognition anytime soon. With that, figures such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau may have to play more than 18 times a year if they hope to feature in any PGA Tour events again. And Rahm also needs to make sure that he plays in a handful of DP World Tour events too.

So how LIV moves forward if there is a merger remains to be seen. But speaking on The Rough Cut Golf Podcast, Peter Finch suggested that there may be a way to accommodate both tours.

How the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could look after a merger

“My thoughts on it would be that the times of year that really are dead time, so things like the Fall series, nobody really watches those right now, so you could have a period within the season where the teams take over and then you are back to normal events but what it will mean is more golf,” he said.

“Hopefully it means the very best players in the world are going to be coming back together and playing again which is what everybody wants. You know what, not only do the fans want it, I actually think the players want it. Everyone invested in the pro golf tours want is as well, as it’s not shock, no secret that the viewership on golf tournaments has been getting progressively worse every year because people want to see the best players playing together.”

The problem with combining the tours

A season which consists of all of the biggest events on the PGA Tour and the majors in the first eight months of the year, and a modified LIV Golf campaign after that may work. But, as Finch notes, the world’s best players are unlikely to be involved in everything across the year – particularly when you factor in the DP World Tour and TGL as well.

Perhaps the PGA Tour and LIV can give up a handful of events. But unless they are going to continue as two completely separate leagues, something will definitely have to give.