Typically, golf is a pretty and peaceful sport. Players will be competitive on the course but civil off of it.

This is no longer the case as the professional golf world has been roiled by an upstart league, LIV Golf, which is backed by the Saudi government. It's also brought a big change in how the sport works as LIV Golf is signing players to hefty, long-term, guaranteed deals, similar to how players in the NFL or NBA get big contracts.

In contrast, the PGA tour has been more of a performance-based league, where players earn money based on how they do in tournaments and the sponsorship and endorsement money that they are able to earn.

LIV Golf has also signed contracts with some of the top players on the PGA Tour for eye-popping figures. Some examples include Phil Mickelson for $138 million, Dustin Johnson for $97 million, and Bryon DeChambeau for $86 million. And, there are some notable holdouts who continue to support the PGA Tour including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth.

Reportedly, Woods and McIlroy were offered nine-figure contracts from LIV Golf that were ultimately rejected. Both continue to support the PGA Tour and have said that the guaranteed contracts would undermine competitiveness and reduce players' incentives to improve.

The PGA Tour has also been active in making sure that players signed to LIV Golf are unable to compete at PGA Tour events. Thus, it makes the major tournaments that are not under the auspices of the PGA Tour even more appealing as it's the only place to see golfers from both leagues square off.

Needless to say, this has brought a huge storm of controversy and rancor to the golf world. It's also injected politics and bigger, macro issues into the sport especially given LIV Golf's connection to the Saudi government and public support from former President Donald Trump.

There have been competing sports leagues before such as the NBA vs the ABL or the AFL vs the NFL. At some point, they combined as a combined league is a superior product with greater revenue per player. However, the deep pockets of the Saudi government and their ability to absorb billions in losses without blinking mean that this could be a much bigger, prolonged battle.