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The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival
Saudi-backed LIV circuit announced the shock agreement to form
one unified commercial entity last week, bringing an end to a
bitter fight that had split the sport.
There is uncertainly about how the golf calendar will look next
year under the framework of the merger, with some doubts being
raised about whether the LIV Golf League team-based competition
would even exist after its 2023 season.
World number three Rory McIlroy said he fully expected LIV to
"go away" after the merger.
However Johnson, one of the star recruits of the breakaway
circuit, said he learned from Yasir Al-Rumayyan that the circuit
would continue next year.
Al-Rumayyan is the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment
Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV, and will also chair the board
of the new commercial entity that will form after the merger.
"Everything I've heard, they're still working on a full schedule
for next year," Johnson told ESPN on Wednesday. "The rest of
this year and 2024 is going to be the same as far as I know.
After that, you know as much as I do.
"We just don't know what it's going to look like here. We'll
probably know some more in the next six months, but as for now
everything's just going to stay the same.
"I'm just glad at some point we're all going to come together
and we're not battling each other anymore."
Former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, one of the first
big names to sign up for LIV, said he spoke to Al-Rumayyan
before the deal was announced on June 6.
"I don't think (LIV) will go away," DeChambeau said. "This is
what was talked about. Those are private conversations, and I
don't know exactly what his future plans are ... There are a lot
of unknowns.
"I don't want to speak for him, but he did tell me something
that could be a bigger stage ... a big global event that could
be really, really cool."
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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