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“I recognise that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan added. “But what we’re talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf. “There’s been a lot of tension in our sport over the last couple of years,” Monahan said. In emphasising the remarkable scene, he sat alongside Rumayyan in a US television studio as the agreement was set out. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, had previously been fierce in his resistance to all things LIV. It is further complicated by the fact that some of those involved – Sergio García, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter – have recently resigned from the DP World Tour. However, that situation seems unlikely to be resolved for this year’s event in Rome. This opens the door for Ryder Cup reprieves for European golfers who looked to have removed themselves from the biennial joust. The statement read: “The three organisations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of readmission, consistent with each tour’s policies.” LIV’s poaching of players – including Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and the Open champion, Cameron Smith – for tens of millions of dollars from the PGA and DP World Tours throughout 2022 led to those golfers being ostracised from their previous domain. The joint statement said: “The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”
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