A Delay Could Be Coming in the Deal Between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf's Backers
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For all of the pieces to come together for the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia as part of their "framework agreement," it appears a good bit of work continues to be required. The original announcement on June 6 put forth a Dec. 31 deadline, but it is possible that will be extended, according to a Bloomberg News report.
The U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into the agreement was cited as the main reason for the delay, along with pushback from PGA Tour players, many of whom remain upset that the original agreement was negotiated in secrecy without their knowledge.
Both the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League—funded by the PIF—are already well into plans for the 2024 season, which would see them operate separately. Any agreement would likely not go into effect until 2025.
LIV Golf is moving forward with a 2024 season.
Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire
The agreement said that the entities would merge their golf-related assets into a new for-profit LLC that would have a separate board and have minority investment from the PIF, with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, serving as chairman of the board. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan would be its CEO.
How this all will look and operate is unclear, and is a huge undertaking.
Meanwhile, some of golf’s heavy hitters were in Scotland last week, including Al-Rumayyan, who played in the Dunhill Links with LIV Golf’s Peter Uihlein.
Al-Rumayyan was grouped one day with Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A. Another day he was grouped with Peter Dawson, former CEO of the R&A and current chairman of the Official World Golf Ranking, who told bunkered.co.uk that a decision on LIV’s OWGR application was "coming close to a conclusion."
LIV Golf submitted its bid in July 2022 and has seen all who compete on the circuit slide down the ranking list because the events are not getting points.
A Few More Things ...
> LIV Golf’s 13th and final regular-season event is this week in Jeddah, where Brooks Koepka said his comeback began with a playoff victory over Peter Uihlein a year ago. It is the last event to determine a season-long individual champion, with Cam Smith, Talor Gooch and Bryson DeChambeau the top three players in the standings. The leader at the end receives $18 million. … LIV’s final event is its Team Championship the following week in Miami.
> Luke List won the Sanderson Farms Championship for his second career PGA Tour title, but the tournament was also big for several other players. With a tie for second, Ben Griffin moved to 51st in the FedEx Cup standings and Mark Hubbard to 59th… Those who finish 51 to 60 at the end of the "FedEx Fall" in November are eligible for Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational, the first two Signature events following the Sentry in 2024. The list continues through the RSM Classic. ... The tournament also saw Scott Stallings, Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Erik van Rooyen move into the top 125 on the points list, which will determine exempt status for 2024.
> The third of seven FedEx Fall events continues this week in Las Vegas with the Shriners Children’s Open. ... The start to the 2024 PGA Tour season at the Sentry begins in 87 days. And the first round of the Masters is 179 days away.