The Merger Dilemma

The golf content machine has been running nonstop the past two weeks. LIV’s hype videos, drama at the Swilcan Bridge, and Tiger’s return at Riviera have given us plenty to talk about. But an under-the-radar story from Golfweek‘s Beth Ann Nichols got me thinking about a huge decision facing the LPGA and Ladies European tours. At the end of 2022, LET players delayed a vote to merge with the LPGA. The possibility of a merger has been a hot topic ever since the tours formed a partnership in 2019. At first glance, it would make sense for the two to unite. But the issue is more complicated than it seems.

As I detailed in Wednesday’s TFE newsletter, the LET is hosting its most lucrative event this week, the Aramco Saudi Ladies International. Saudi involvement in the LET is completely normalized at this point. A bunch of top players will be there, including LPGA stars. Even Meghan MacLaren, who has spoken out against Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses and sportswashing efforts, is in the field. The enormous (by women’s golf standards) $5-million purse has evidently made this event irresistible for players.

So if the LET were to merge with the LPGA, what would happen to Aramco’s growing presence on the European circuit? The LPGA, which is strategically allied with the PGA Tour (whatever that means right now), would likely want to see Saudi involvement decrease. That’s easier said than done, though. No other existing or potential sponsor can match the money Aramco is putting up for six events this year. This is the one sponsor walking the walk when it comes to equal pay between men and women in golf—and it’s intimately connected with a murderous regime. If you’re LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, that’s a tough pill to swallow.

I wonder, too, what Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour would think of an allied league letting Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bankroll a fifth of its events. (Sidebar: A really good way to make the PGA-LPGA alliance a real thing, not just strategic, would be to get a mixed event on the schedule. This would do a lot to strengthen the LPGA’s product.)

Until the vote on the merger is rescheduled, Marcoux Samaan has time to weigh the pros and cons. Is adding a growing league to the LPGA’s portfolio worth inviting more Saudi influence and money into women’s professional golf?

What do you make of the landscape of women’s golf right now? Does the LPGA Tour have any way to slow down the Saudis’ efforts to gain a foothold with its players? Would rejecting a merger cause a second schism in the game in as many years?