Golf became the loudest sport in the world yesterday when the PGA Tour and its rival, LIV Golf, announced a shocking deal to “unify the game of golf.”

The merger ends the highly litigious Montague vs. Capulet-level rivalry within pro golf that’s been raging for the past two years, but raises more questions about Saudi Arabia’s increasingly bold moves to become a power broker in global sports. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which bankrolled LIV, is the exclusive financial investor in the new entity, pouring in a reported $3 billion.

How we got here

LIV Golf started last year as a competitor to the PGA Tour, and with seemingly infinite money from the Saudis, it successfully lured away star golfers with nine-figure contracts. But LIV was controversial from the start, considered an effort by Saudi Arabia at “sportswashing”—e.g., its strategy of using sports to distract from its miserable human rights record.

So why would the PGA Tour risk its reputation to link up with LIV? That’s what irate fans and unsuspecting players want PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, currently the most hated man in golf, to answer.

• Last year, in a take that aged as poorly as Livestrong wristbands, Monahan asked golfers defecting to LIV, “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”
• After the merger was announced yesterday, Monahan said he realized he would be called a “hypocrite” but “circumstances do change.”

What we know and don’t know about the new tour

• What we know: Monahan will be CEO, but the chairman will be Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and right-hand man to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• What we don’t know: the name of the new organization, how golfers who defected to LIV would rejoin the PGA Tour, and how the tour will explain itself to players who turned down LIV contracts worth hundreds of millions.

Zoom out: If it seems like Saudi Arabia controls golf now, just look at what it’s been up to in the more influential sport of soccer. The Saudi soccer league, which signed Cristiano Ronaldo to a $200 million contract last year, wants to pay more than $1 billion in wages to bring over about 20 foreign stars, including Lionel Messi.—CC

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Eerie scenes in NYC as smoke blanketed the northern US. Smoke from 160 wildfires burning in Quebec drifted into large portions of the US this week, and yesterday it caused New York City to have the worst air quality of any city in the world. Canadian authorities have also issued high-risk air quality warnings for the large cities of Toronto and Ottawa. With more than 6.7 million acres scorched so far this year, the start of Canada’s wildfire season has been one of the worst on record.

🪙 The SEC sues Coinbase. The financial regulator has started this week on a rampage against crypto, first suing the exchange Binance on Monday, then filing a lawsuit against Coinbase, Binance’s US competitor, yesterday. The SEC is accusing Coinbase of failing to register as an exchange, brokerage, and clearing agency while offering trading for crypto assets it considers securities. Coinbase shot back that the US has never established clear rules for crypto companies.

Former intelligence officer says US has recovered craft of “non-human origin.” Yes, you read that right—David Grusch, a former intelligence officer, said in a whistleblower complaint that covert programs have found partial and full vehicles that were not made by humans and withheld that information illegally from Congress, according to The Debrief. There are reasons to be skeptical of this full-blown UFO conspiracy theory, Futurism writes, but Grusch was backed up by a longtime intelligence leader who studies unidentified aerial phenomena.

A vital dam exploded in Ukraine yesterday, causing the country’s largest river to flood dozens of downstream communities.

Ukraine and Russia are blaming each other for one of Europe’s biggest human-caused environmental disasters. The destroyed dam was part of the Moscow-controlled Kakhovka hydroelectric station in Southern Ukraine and was critical to harnessing the flow of the Dnipro River in a region partially occupied by Russia.

The situation on the ground:

• Ukrainian and Russian occupation authorities are evacuating residents from the flooded areas they control (home to more than 40,000 people) amid scenes of floating houses and river animals roaming city streets.
• Agriculture experts fear that the flooding could imperil the water supply to fertile lands in what’s known as Ukraine’s breadbasket. And one ecologist told the Kyiv Independent there’s a risk that dangerous chemicals could spill into the ground and the Black Sea.

It’s unclear which side in the 15-month-old conflict might lose more from the devastation. Some military analysts say the flood could hinder a much-anticipated major Ukrainian counteroffensive that reportedly began taking shape this week. But it could also affect Russian supply lines and threatens to leave parts of Crimea without water.

The investor reax: Wheat, one of the region’s big cash crops, traded almost 4% higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as flooding fears reached international markets.—SK

Instead of a highly choreographed, 30-minute bit where he tries to open a car door, Mr. Bean wrote an article saying he felt “duped” by electric vehicles. And EV experts were waiting, ready to debunk the whole thing.

Actor Rowan Atkinson, famous for his brand of bumbling-around comedy, published an opinion piece in The Guardian last weekend claiming that because of exorbitant energy needs and rare metal mining, producing EVs creates about 70% more greenhouse gas emissions than a traditional gas guzzler, citing a recent Volvo study.

The counter: Most EV experts argued that while, yes, EV battery production can be harmful to the environment, an EV’s lifetime emissions end up being at least 66% less than that of a traditional car, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. So, the emissions from making EVs are only a small fraction of the long-term pollution from internal combustion engines, and the benefits will likely grow as EV adoption expands.

Big picture: Not even John Mulaney could pen something to stop the electric takeover. Global EV sales have been steadily growing (more than 50% annually) since 2013, and last year, automakers around the world said they planned to invest almost $1.2 trillion in EV production through 2030.—MM

Stat: If you don’t use it, lose it—especially if it’s pricey commercial real estate. About half of large global companies plan to shed office space over the next three years, according to a survey from Knight Frank. That’s an ominous sign for banks tied up in real estate and urban downtowns that depend on office workers. But it just doesn’t make sense to pay for a 5-bed when you’re an empty nester: Only 31% of companies surveyed are requiring employees to come to the office most or all the time.

Quote: “Look, we don’t need more digital currency. We already have digital currency. It’s called the US dollar.”

SEC Chair Gary Gensler cemented himself as No. 1 on the crypto industry’s “Most Wanted List” this week…and it’s only Wednesday. Not only did he sue Binance and Coinbase, he went on CNBC to argue that cryptocurrencies and digital tokens don’t have a reason to exist, given that fiat currencies like the US dollar, the yen, and the euro are “all digital right now.” The twist? Gensler taught a course on bitcoin and blockchain at MIT in 2018.

Read: Counteract the doomerism with this take on why AI will save the world. (Marc Andreessen)

Someone please settle this debate: Should you wash your cast-iron pan?

Two geography things: 1) the average age people lose their virginity by country and 2) the real dividing line between southern and northern Europe.

Father’s Day is coming up: Here are some gift ideas for Pops.

Yes, chefs! Here is the full list of the James Beard Awards 2023 winners.

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Word Search: Map nerds, today’s Word Search is for you. See if you can identify the cities from their bike-lane maps.

Famous courtroom quotes

Since Prince Harry testified in court yesterday, we’ve decided to ask you about famous courtroom scenes. We’ll give you an iconic sentence said in a courtroom, and you have to identify the speaker (real or fictional).

1. “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
2. “The court does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination.”
3. “You can’t handle the truth!”
4. “I wish you well.”
5. “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place.”

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**Based on a study conducted by Facet in April 2023. A statistically valid sample of members following Facet’s current planning process demonstrated that more than half of these members, defined here as a majority, achieved value greater than their planning fee. This value was shown to reoccur on an annual basis. Assumptions included average expenses and fees, using retirement tax savings, portfolio expenses and tax loss harvesting as value drivers using Facet’s investment services, and discounting value to align with the acceptance of Facet recommendations. Facet assesses clients an annual flat fee for service based on the complexity of planning needs. There is no separate or additional fee for investment management. This is not a guarantee or prediction of actual results for any member and results may vary by member. Some value like tax loss harvesting may vary year to year. Facet Wealth, Inc. (“Facet”) is an SEC registered investment adviser headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Offer ends June 30, 2023.