Received

The world of golf has been left stunned as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival Saudi-backed LIV circuit announced a shock agreement to merge.

The organisations said in a joint news release on Tuesday they will work together to allow a process for LIV Golf players to reapply for membership on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, following the 2023 season.

The bombshell announcement was slammed by many PGA Tour players who were left in the dark about the merger.

The mending of relations comes after a very public war of words, mounting tensions and a bitter legal battle.

"After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love," said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, previously a vocal critic of LIV.

"How did we go from a confrontation to now being partners? We just realised we were better off together than we were fighting or apart."

No details were given as to how the agreement will impact the current competitive golf landscape, including eligibility for this year's Ryder Cup.

The LIV Golf series is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and critics have accused it of being a vehicle for the country to attempt to improve its reputation in the face of criticism of its human rights record.

The announcement of the merger includes an agreement to end all pending litigation between the participating parties.

Additionally, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) will make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success.

PIF, which owns more than 90 per cent of LIV, plans to invest billions of dollars in order to have a sizeable minority stake in the combined company, a person familiar with the matter said.

"Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world," PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said.

Monahan said the agreement was in the best interest of the members of the PGA Tour, although he described a closed-door meeting with the players on Tuesday as "intense" and "heated".

"It puts us in a position of control and allows us to partner with the PIF in a constructive and productive way," he said.

LIV Golf, which features 54-hole events with no cuts instead of the traditional 72-hole format, launched in 2022 and lured big-name players away from the rival circuits with staggering sums of prize money.

The PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity and the board of directors will include Al-Rumayyan as chairman and the PGA Tour's Monahan as CEO.

After years of acrimony the deal seems to have come together quickly with little fuss and no leaks - despite it being one of the biggest commercial stories in the history of sport.

Players who made the move to LIV Golf include Phil Mickelson, former world No.1 Dustin Johnson, reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and 2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith.

"Awesome day today," Mickelson tweeted on Tuesday.

Some PGA Tour players took to social media to express their surprise at having not been informed of the agreement before its announcement.

"I love finding out morning news on Twitter," wrote two-times major champion Collin Morikawa.

Former US president Donald Trump, who owns three courses that are part of LIV Golf's 14-event schedule in 2023, celebrated the deal in a social media post.

Advocacy groups 9/11 Families United and Democracy for the Arab World Now were among the organisations that denounced the deal.

"...The PGA and Monahan appear to have become just more paid Saudi shills, taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation so that Americans and the world will forget how the Kingdom spent their billions of dollars before 9/11 to fund terrorism, spread their vitriolic hatred, and finance al Qaeda and the murder of our loved ones," 9/11 Families United said in a statement.

© AP 2023

Ange Postecoglou will begin his time in charge of Tottenham close to home next month but the honeymoon period won't last long with the new Spurs boss set to make some critical calls early into his tenure.

Postecoglou's first game at the helm will be part of Tottenham's tour of Australia, a clash with London rivals West Ham at Perth's Optus Stadium on July 18 set to mark the start of his era.

The 57-year-old, who will become the first Australian to manage a top-flight English club, signed a four-year deal on Tuesday.

After the trip back home, the former Socceroos boss will have to get down to business in a period which could shape his legacy at the north-London club even before the season can start.

On the top of Postecoglou's to-do list will be resolving the future of England captain Harry Kane.

The talismanic striker has been linked with moves to Real Madrid and Manchester United and has never won silverware at Spurs.

Kane has little over 12 months left on his existing deal and could walk away from Tottenham for nothing in a year's time.

The 29-year-old is a fan favourite but Postecoglou has been encouraged to sell Kane, which will allow him to cash in and strengthen his squad.

"He's got to let him go," former England defender Micah Richards told the BBC.

"He's got to get as much money as possible for him and allow Spurs to rebuild their team.

"They're too reliant on Kane. Every time you see who scored for them, it's Kane, Kane, Kane. They need something more.

"I think it's time now. I'm sure Spurs fans would say 'you've given everything for us, let's get some money for him, just cash in now and start again'."

Kane's situation is made all the harder to juggle given the fact Tottenham's squad are all locked down on contracts and have been without a director of football since Fabio Paratici left in April.

Postecoglou is going to have to figure out very quickly which players can adapt to his methods and adhere to his philosophy of helter-skelter football.

Spurs' squad was labelled as "selfish" by former boss Antonio Conte and Postecoglou is renowned for demanding tireless devotion from his players.

"Postecoglou is all about hard work, intensity, bravery on the ball and trusting the process - his process," former Celtic striker Chris Sutton told the Daily Mail.

If he can work out the good from the bad, then the Australian's focus will turn to getting Spurs back into the top four and guaranteeing a place in the Champions League.

Last season they finished eighth and, like when he took the Celtic job in 2021, there will be sceptics willing to decry his appointment if things don't start well.

"To manage one of the Glasgow giants you have to have a strong character and personality and skin as thick as a rhino," Sutton said.

"Postecoglou has all these traits in abundance."

© AAP 2023

On Halloween night 2020, Kevin Jones got into an altercation and died after arriving at a Brisbane house with a bottle of fuel, wearing a hoodie and black gloves.

More than two years after the struggle with Mr Jones, Jason Moana Rimene, 54, walked free from court cleared of murder.

Mr Rimene on Tuesday was a relieved man as he left Brisbane Supreme Court following an acquittal at the judge's direction in week two of his trial.

His defence had made a no case to answer submission, saying the Crown could not prove Mr Rimene's actions caused Mr Jones' death based on a pathologist's evidence.

The defence accepted that Mr Rimene inflicted injuries upon Mr Jones after they got into a struggle outside the house.

According to Mr Rimene, in Justice Sue Brown's judgment, Mr Jones hit his head a couple of times after he was thrown or pushed to the ground during the altercation.

However the pathologist said Mr Jones' injuries were inflicted with a "mild to the lower end of the moderate" range of force.

The pathologist gave evidence that Mr Jones also had a number of pre-existing injuries or medical conditions, including "severe" heart disease.

Mr Jones also suffered a severe narrowing of the arteries, the most common cause of heart attacks, and "could have had a sudden death anytime", the pathologist said.

The pathologist agreed Mr Jones could have died at any point of the altercation due to the state of his heart.

Justice Brown said in her judgment the pathologist's opinion and the underlying heart conditions supported a reasonable hypothesis that Mr Jones' death could have been a "spontaneous event".

"The present case is not one where the circumstances speak for themselves in establishing whether the conduct of the defendant was a substantial cause of the deceased's death," she said.

Justice Brown noted there was evidence of Mr Rimene inflicting "neck and head injuries which extend to internal brain injuries".

However she said there was also evidence that gave rise to reasonable inferences that Mr Jones died of a cardiac event "caused by the heightened state of the deceased or his own actions that evening in turning up ... with fuel and at least in spreading the fuel on the ground".

"There is no evidence capable of excluding the reasonable hypotheses that death was caused by a cardiac event unrelated to the defendant's physical acts," Justice Brown said.

"Medical evidence was necessary to link the conduct of the defendant to the death in the circumstances of this case.

"...(The pathologist's) evidence clearly does not establish that the defendant's conduct was a substantial cause of death."

After considering the no case to answer application Justice Brown directed the jury to enter a verdict of not guilty for charges of murder and manslaughter on Tuesday.

An "extremely" relieved Mr Rimene thanked his legal team for "seeing this case through" outside court after being cleared.

© AAP 2023