Professional golfers have been blindsided by a surpise merger between two bitterly divided tours.

A deal some believe is sealed in blood. The PGA is joining forces with the Saudi Arabia's rival LIV golf - that's backed by a state owned investment fund. A state that's guilty of serious human rights violations, including the brutal assasination of a journalist by Saudi government agents.

The rival leagues saw a bitter divide between players, with the PGA encouraging golfers to take the moral high ground and reject multi-million dollar Saudi contracts.

So what happens to those contracts now? And has the moral high ground dissolved under foot?

Jimmy Emanuel, deputy editor and digital editor of the Golf Australia magazine, talks to Lisa Owen.