From The New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tevernice and this is The Daily.

This morning, fierce reaction after the PGA Tour's announcement that it's merging with

its Saudi-funded rival, Liv Galfe.

In a stunning reversal last week, Galfe's premier circuit, the PGA Tour, announced it was

partnering with its upstart rival, a controversial league backed by Saudi Arabia.

A country that has never won an Olympic gold medal, Saudi Arabia has suddenly emerged as

a major player in global sport.

Whether it's gobbling up golf rights or signing yet another global soccer star, many

roads now seem to lead to re-at.

They invested very heavily in golf, Formula One, WWE, they've had boxing now.

Now, Saudi Arabia, along with its long record of human rights abuses, has a powerful new

seat at the table of international sports, a major success in a year's long effort to

win influence.

Today, my colleague, Alan Blinder, explains what was behind this surprising turn, what it

means for Saudi Arabia and for the business of sports.

It's Thursday, June 15th.

So Alan, I have to tell you that a group of producers at the daily were very interested

and became in fact quite obsessed with the question of Saudi-backed golf.

And I told them, no thank you, I do not want to do a podcast about that.

And they persisted.

And then last week, this Saudi-backed league burst into the news.

And the team got very excited.

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