LIV Golf has upper hand in PGA Tour merger talks as huge deal signed after Donald Trump meeting

LIV Golf fans in the UK missed the opening tee shot of the opening round of the 2025 season after the league's app suffered a technical error - but the league has now confirmed that won't be an issue again after signing a deal with ITV to broadcast on free-to-air tv. The deal, which comes into effect for the second day of the Riyadh tournament, marks a significant landmark for the league, which is in its third year and hasn't had a UK broadcast partner yet. In previous seasons, LIV has only been broadcast in the UK via the official app or YouTube channel.

Now, however, fans throughout the UK will be able to watch on ITV or ITVX, with the latter showing every round of every tournament throughout the 2025 season. The news comes just a day after the opening round of the season started with a splutter after a technical fault. The 2025 season began with a night round in Riyadh, but viewers in the UK were unable to watch the opening tee shots due to an error with the app. The app appeared to go down minutes before the action began at 3PM GMT, only to return a few minutes after the first tee shots were taken.

Ron Wechsler, LIV Golf Senior Vice President of Broadcast Partnerships and Programming Strategy, said: "Our partnership with ITV represents a major milestone as we strive to bring LIV Golf to every corner of the world. "With a premier sports broadcaster like ITV, we can ensure that more fans than ever will be able to access the excitement of the LIV Golf experience and connect with the world-class players, teams, and stories that make us a truly standalone global sports league.”.

The league will still broadcast on the app, but will also be shown on ITVX, giving the league an unprecedented new audience. The agreement could also prove significant in the ongoing negotiations with the PGA Tour - which has a UK TV deal with Sky Sports. Despite being nearly two years removed from the first framework agreement being put in place for a historic merger agreement between the two fractions within the sport, we're still yet to have anything signed. The two sides are expected to come together again soon for more negotiations, and LIV will now be able to boast TV broadcast partners in the United States, Europe, and now the UK.

On Thursday, the PGA Tour issued a statement of intent to get back to the negotiating table and push through a deal. One of the biggest holdups has been the Department of Justice and the issue of antitrust regulations, however a recent meeting with President Donald Trump may have alleviated those concerns and allowed for a sidestep. In a statement issued on Thursday by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Player Directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott read: "We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the Public Investment Fund and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf.

"We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved. We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men's professional golf.". Trump has a close relationship with the Saudi chiefs in charge of the Public Investment Fund - backers of LIV - while his love for golf and close ties to the LIV Golf league mean he's likely to play a big part in the potential merger.

Trump has already expressed his desire to be the man to reunite golf, having told the Let's Go podcast last year: "It's terrible when somebody's shut out of a major. It's terrible. But they're very happy with Saudi. They're over there and they're very happy about it. They really are. It's amazing... But I think it'll come together. Yeah, I could certainly help, but I could probably get it done. I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done.".