Optimism Is High at LIV Golf as Details of New PGA Tour Alliance Slowly Take Shape

Fresh off its second trip to London, LIV Golf is feeling good about its future.

Author:
Bob Harig
Publish date:
Jul 9, 2023

HERTFORDSHIRE, England – After spending several days at the site of the very first LIV Golf event, it is not difficult to gauge the level of optimism concerning the upstart league and its future in light of the recently announced agreement with the PGA Tour: nothing but positive.

From the uncertainty and oddity of the new venture 13 months ago to the understated sense that it is now here to stay, the mood is undoubtedly upbeat.

The “framework agreement’’ between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia that sent shockwaves through the sports and still leaves considerable room for interpretation has only emboldened those at LIV Golf, who feel it has loosened the shackles and given them some opportunity that previously did not exist.

“We’re pretty comfortable with where we sit and with what the long-term outlook is,’’ said a LIV Golf executive who wished not to be identified. “Nothing’s really changed for us other than some headwinds have been taken away because our chairman sat next to Jay (Monahan) and said we’re all in this together. Which is what we’d always hoped for.’’

The chairman is Yasir Al-Rumayyan, an avid golfer who has called LIV Golf “his baby’’ and who is also governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the main LIV funding source.

The framework agreement says that Monahan and the PGA Tour will ultimately decide LIV Golf’s fate and in various interviews PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne has only re-confirmed that point.

But there is no clarity on what will ultimately happen with LIV Golf, other than it is proceeding as usual for now.

It seems there are some diverging opinions coming from both sides on that point, and perhaps when negotiations on finalizing a deal take place, that issue will be more clearly defined.

But for now, LIV Golf believes it is here to stay, in some form, with a league schedule, team golf and tournaments played around the world.

It’s why there has been little public posturing from LIV, outside of what some of the players have said in various interviews which suggest they’ve been told by Al-Rumayyan to stay the course, that LIV Golf will proceed mostly as they know it.

"There’s a lot of details to be worked out, ‘’ said the LIV Golf executive at Centurion Golf Club, where the ninth event of this year took place over the weekend – the first to be played at a repeat venue..

“Especially now that it’s out people can read it and make up their own minds. There are a lot of corners to round out from there. So we just haven’t felt the need to speculate or become embroiled in a he-said, she-said in any of that. We just want to keep the focus on the product. We run golf events, we think they’re pretty good and we’ve got great players and we want to keep the focus on that.’’

The agreement has undoubtedly lifted a burden from LIV Golf. While the negatives of being associated with the Saudi Arabia regime and its sovereign wealth fund will still exist, that can no longer be the case as far as the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are concerned.

The Tour used the source of LIV's funding against LIV while fighting it, but that's no longer a barrier. Once Monahan sat down and talked about being partners with Al-Rumayyan, that ended.

There’s no better example of that than the CEO of the Hero Motor Corp not only showing up outside of London to play in the LIV Golf pro-am – with Phil Mickelson – but spending the weekend at the course to hob-nob with various officials.

Pawan Munjal is an avid golfer whose company has invested in the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and is known for its association dating to the 2014 Hero World Challenge, which is dear to Tiger Woods.

The event benefits Woods’ foundation and dates to 1999, when Woods’ career was in its infancy and his late father, Earl, helped him chart a charitable direction that has led to brick-and-mortar learning centers, including at the foundation home in Anaheim, California.

The tournament has been a big part of the fundraising efforts, and Hero’s support of both Woods's event and a DP World Tour event in India, where the company is based, gave reason for Munjal to take sides.

Such was his loyalty to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour that Munjal and Hero dropped India’s best golfer, Anirban Lahiri, when he signed last September to play with LIV Golf.

“For Mr. Munjal to come here less than a year after a feeling like he couldn’t be associated with a player on LIV, attending the event and playing the pro-am is a big turnaround,’’ the LIV executive said. “And there are a lot of others. We’re no longer on the outside. The PGA Tour sat next to the same company that invests in LIV.’’

Those associated with LIV Golf clearly see the fact that a Tour representative, Dunne, first reached out to Al-Rumayyan, and felt like it needed to partner with the same people it had been disparaging for the better part of a year gives them a sense of freedom. It’s why they are so bullish on the future and building on what they have started.

Of course, the agreement also says that Monahan will make final decisions about LIV Golf. And it’s clear that Al-Rumayyan, in first offering to drop litigation, had reasons for doing so, such as avoiding depositions.

How it all fits will be fascinating to see play out because if LIV Golf exists in its current form, some of the same problems still exist: player movement between the two entities, for example. Both sides will need each other.

LIV is nowhere near making money and can use the PGA Tour’s sponsorship clout as well as television contract inroads; the PGA Tour, in theory, would like to see the best players in the world competing in the same tournaments, including the Players Championship – where defending champion Cam Smith was not allowed to participate this year due to his association with LIV.

For now, LIV continues on, and there are still some issues to keep an eye on as decisions are made, including:

1) Official World Golf Rankings. LIV Golf submitted its bid a year ago this week. While there has been back-and-forth conversation between the sides, there is no indication that LIV will be granted accreditation. One source who is not directly affiliated with LIV Golf told Sports Illustrated that the organization has never seriously considered the bid. “They’ve come up with 900 reasons not to approve it,’’ he said.

LIV officials believe the OWGR is no longer credible. For more than a year, it has not been giving points to those who participate in LIV events, allowing players to tumble in the rankings. (Sports Illustrated also launched its own data-driven rankings, which includes LIV Golf results, and updates it each week.)

“It becomes less representative by the week,’’ the LIV executive said. “We’re not pushing for OWGR. It’s been 13 months. Our guys have clearly shown they can compete in the majors and they are among the best in the world.

“Routes into the majors we think is valuable to LIV but also valuable to the majors. Whether that can be done in a representative fashion through OWGR at this point is a bigger question for OWGR. Is Talor Gooch the 90^th best player in the world?’’

2) Venues. LIV Golf has seen an uptick in interest to host events, especially internationally. The Adelaide tournament was LIV’s biggest success and it created a process by which venues or municipalities can apply to host a tournament. The idea is that LIV will get paid to bring its tournaments to certain locations as opposed to paying course rental fees.

This is likely more the case overseas than it is in the United States, where LIV has to scramble to find suitable venues and had to pay a premium to do so. Next year’s schedule could have seven North America venues and then seven overseas, with the possibility of two in Australia as well as return trips to Spain and Great Britain, where it is possible a different venue than Centurion Club will be utilized in England.

3) A Promotions Event. LIV previously announced plans for a Promotions Event or the equivalent of a qualifying tournament that would see three new players earn a place with LIV Golf for the 2024 season. The Promotions Event is tentatively scheduled for the first week of December, with a venue yet to be decided. Indications are it will be played somewhere in the Middle East, likely Dubai.

LIV Golf now takes three weeks off before resuming its schedule in late July at the Greenbrier, followed by a return to Trump Bedminster. Another break follows before events in Chicago, Jeddah and Miami, where the season-ending Team Championship will take place.

It has yet to be announced, but LIV has moved the Saudi Arabia tournament to the week before Miami, where it ended its season last year.