PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — "We found out this morning," Andrew George, executive director of the tournament formerly known as the Honda Classic, said Tuesday.
He wasn't alone. He and the entire golf world found out the PGA Tour is merging with LIV Golf on Tuesday.
"I think my first thought is, where's the opportunity?" he said.
LIV Golf, until Tuesday morning, was the arch-enemy of the PGA Tour. The tour didn't want anything to do with LIV Golf when it was announced. Players who teed up for the fledgling association were barred from playing the tour.
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George said in the last 15 to 18 months it's been really tiring for everyone involved. The field of players was split and add in all the legal spats that were going on.
"You think of merging, meaning partnership, you talk about where we're going to grow the game of golf beyond that," he said. "There's a lot of unanswered questions for everybody."
George said it's a wait-and-see game at this moment.
"Title sponsors, of course, host organizations, our staff and everyone is kind of looking at the long list," he said. "I think it's easy to kind of build that list first and then we got to come back in the next couple weeks and really get those answers."
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As far as the players who stayed loyal to the PGA, George believes that will come to an agreement that benefits all players.
"I think that's something they'll address with the membership that stayed loyal to the PGA Tour, how do we make this fair for everybody?" he said.
The other big questions to be answered include what's going to happen with Greg Norman and how the new entity will be structured.