Over a year has passed since the bombshell news of a possible alliance between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf sent shockwaves through the golfing realm.
More than a year later, discussions regarding this potential collaboration are still active, with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) the financial powerhouse behind LIV Golf confirming that developments are “continuing to progress”.
The golfing community has been abuzz with opinions from various players on the matter.
The subcommittee dealing with these negotiations includes three current PGA Tour players Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Adam Scott as well as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, chairman Joe Gorder, John Henry, and Joe Ogilvie.
Although the initial framework for an agreement was laid out some time ago, the dialogue is ongoing as both players and spectators grow increasingly eager for resolution. The Mirror has delved into the latest updates on this unfolding story.
Negotiations are advancing among stakeholders, reports the Mirror.
In recent communications, PIF and the PGA have jointly acknowledged that despite missing the original deadline of December 31, 2023, discussions are “continuing to progress”.
Their joint statement declared: “Representatives from the PGA TOUR Enterprises Transaction Subcommittee and the PIF have been meeting multiple times weekly to work through potential deal terms and come to a shared vision on the future of professional golf. On Friday evening, an in-person session in New York City included the entire Transaction Subcommittee and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and his team, where more progress was made.”
Both the PGA and PIF have expressed optimism about a future deal regarding professional golf and the cash has already started flowing. Strategic Sports Group has injected up to $3billion (£2.3bn) into the PGA Tour, with $1.5bn up front and another $1.5bn due in the future.
However, the ongoing discussions and apparent progress without conclusion have frustrated some committee members.
Despite being part of the transaction team along with Woods and Scott, McIlroy recently announced he would step back to let better-qualified people handle the “big boy stuff” at negotiations.
Last month, The Mirror reported McIlroy saying, “There’s going to be people in that room on the PGA Tour side who are going to take the lead. And it’s not going to be Adam, Tiger or I. That’s going to be Jay, Joe Gorder, Joe Ogilvie, John Henry. It’s going to be the business guys. We’re there to maybe give a perspective from a player’s point of view.”
“This is a negotiation about an investment in the PGA Tour Enterprises, this is big boy stuff. And I’ll certainly be doing more listening than I will be doing talking.”
These discussions follow over a year after McIlroy told fans he “still hated LIV Golf”, following news of the possible merger.
At the time, he remarked: “Whether you like it or not, the PIF are going to keep spending money in golf… at least the PGA Tour now controls how that money is spent.”
“One of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world, would you rather have them as a partner or an enemy? At the end of the day, money talks and you’d rather have them as a partner.”
Now, McIlroy appears more receptive to the idea of a merger with LIV and PIF, highlighting the role of player committees in resolving specific issues.
McIlroy shared his thoughts: “My stance on some of the LIV stuff has softened. They’re contracted to play 14 events, but the other 38 weeks of the year you’re free to do what you want.”
“The only thing is there are so many tours and so many golf tournaments. There are only a certain amount of weeks in the year. That’s the complicated part. Trying to figure out which tournaments go where, when do we play them, how many players, what players.”
DeChambeau, who made headlines by switching from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf in 2022, expressed his desire to participate in his preferred PGA Tour events if the merger goes ahead.
DeChambeau was lured to LIV with a staggering £98million offer over four years, yet he insists his family influenced his decision to join.
DeChambeau has expressed his reasons for shifting allegiances, stating: “People can say I moved to one side, but I did it for my family and what I had in front of me at that point in time. I think my mom would have probably smacked me for not taking the deal.”
He’s also urged those brokering the merger to keep the lines of communication open with players from both the PGA and LIV circuits, highlighting his desire to participate in his favoured PGA events once more.
In a chat with Gulf News, DeChambeau shared his aspirations: “Look, I would love to continue to showcase my skill set around the world in different places, whether it be Shriners or the Arnold Palmer, Mr. Nicklaus’ event [The Memorial], TPC Las Vegas.”
“I’d love to play those events. They’ve been great to me. Shoot, even Riviera [Genesis Invitational]. I’d love to play Tiger’s event; put on a fantastic event in a good community and around some great people. That’s what I look forward to hopefully being able to do down the road.”
Further commenting on his future plans, he added: “Do I want to play a full schedule? You know what, I don’t know. We’ll see how things shake out. I don’t know what the future is going to look like, and I’m not here to decide that. But would I like to play a few? Sure, ones that I truly enjoyed and had a lot of friends with and helped impact the community in a positive way, absolutely.”
Sergio Garcia, who jumped ship to LIV Golf in 2022, has expressed optimism about the deal’s potential to brighten the future of professional golf.
At the Masters in April, the Spanish golfer dismissed any notion of animosity as negotiations between the two factions continued.
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He remarked: “I think the game is in a perfect spot. The professional game, maybe it’s a little more separated, mostly because of the media, not so much because of the players. But I think the game itself is in a great spot. I think that we have the most amount of people playing the game, which is great, and people have to realize one thing, that the future of the game isn’t us.”
“We’re not the future of the game. Neither me or Rory [McIlroy], no. We’re not the future. We’re the present of the game… I mean, obviously the more togetherness that you get, the better it is for everyone. There’s no doubt about that. But there’s room for everyone. I don’t think that’s a problem at all.”
“The same way that I love watching Real Madrid and La Liga, you like to watch the premiership and whoever your team is. Everybody can support whoever they have, and there’s plenty of people to support it.”
Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth, who serves on the PGA Tour’s policy board, has conceded that he could risk ” getting in trouble ” should he speak out about the ongoing merger discussions.
The American golfer hasn’t really been open with his thoughts about the ongoing discussions. But according to The Mirror, Spieth hopes that it gets “done right for everyone”.
At a recent pre-John Deere Classic press conference, he responded to a loaded question by saying: “That’s an extremely loaded question that I could get in a lot of trouble answering. I’ll just say things of that nature take a little bit of time, but they’re very active. That’s about as far as I can go for you.”
Reporters also pushed him on whether he’d prefer the deal to be sealed sooner rather than later. He reiterated his earlier stance, and added: “I would like to see it done right for everyone. So the timing is the timing.”
He further added: “Obviously if anything can be done right and done sooner, that’s great. But I would rather see it done correctly and done the right way for golf going forward for the longest amount of time, regardless how long that takes to get there, yeah.”
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