PGA Tour, PIF Sound Closer Than Ever On Reaching A Deal

On June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour entered into what was termed a “framework agreement” with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which also owns LIV Golf.

In case you hadn’t noticed, more than a year-and-a-half later there remains no deal in place.

At this point, anyone who has an investment in the professional game – whether as a rights holder or a sponsor, a player or a fan – has already endured several stages of skepticism, each one more cynical than the last.

Over the past week, though, we’ve been given reason for optimism.

We’ve been led to believe that reunification, a repair of the fractured structure at the game’s most elite level, is imminent.

Why? Because some of the major boardroom players are suggesting this.

For as long as Scottie Scheffler has served in his current role as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, we’ve collectively been subject to endless rhetoric in regard to just how difficult it is to put together a deal of this magnitude, from agreeing on the financial terms to ensuring the Department of Justice would be amenable.

During last week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, however, the tone changed dramatically.

“Everything is moving forward with pace,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who recently met with President Donald Trump to discuss this reunification. “When you look at all the parties involved, there’s a general enthusiasm for getting this done.”

“I think there’s an opportunity here where in ’26 I don’t think it will get all the way there, but I think you’ll start to hopefully see a move towards where it could go,” surmised Rory McIlroy, who was quick to point out that he no longer serves on the Policy Board.

Tiger Woods does, though, and he said in the CBS television booth on Sunday afternoon, “I think that things are going to heal quickly.”

Each of these comments represents a different tenor toward the situation, one which until now was so often fraught with frustration and pessimism.

Of course, the positivity remains vague, with at least no published outline of what all of this might entail.

The devil, as they say, is in the details, and whether it’s Monahan, McIlroy, Woods or anyone else involved, the details have been buried back in the boardroom, purposely left out of the current public conversation.

That’s not just reading between the lines, either. It’s a direct quote from the commish himself.

“I do,” Monahan stated when asked if he has a clear vision of what professional golf’s future might look like, “and the details of which we’ll be talking about at a future date.”

Look, we get it: Any business in any industry which is trying to come to terms on some type of contractual agreement will keep the particulars behind closed doors until the ink is finally dry.

It does leave the rest of us to guess, if we’re so inclined, as to what a deal might involve.

Does it mean LIV Golf members, those who renounced their PGA Tour memberships or were suspended in the previous three years, will simply return to their former status? Does it mean PGA Tour players will be included in LIV events? Will a team golf format become as prevalent as the individual pursuit on a weekly basis? Or will there, as Monahan suggested, only be one global tour with all of the game’s elite players competing together under the same umbrella?

Those are the big queries. Even the smaller ones remain cloudy.

What would the schedule look like in this Brave New World? Will LIV players be able to return without penalty? Will they receive an equity stake? Where, exactly, will all this money go? And how will it make the product better?

All of these questions remain, even as the parties involved in procuring a deal continue to promise that it’s coming soon, whatever it might be.