Nearly one year to the day that the PGA Tour announced a partnership with LIV Golf, the two sides are still in talks to finalize their merger.
According to PGATour.com, the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund “continue to progress” in their talks.
In a joint statement from the PGA TOUR Enterprises Transaction Subcommittee included in the release, the Tour and PIF expressed optimism after an in-person meeting in New York City that took place on Friday:
“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.”
Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are the three active PGA Tour players on the subcommittee, along with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, chairman Joe Gorder, John Henry and Joe Ogilvie.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf announced the formation of a “newly formed commercial entity” to unify the three competing entities under one single umbrella on June 6, 2023.
Despite announcing the framework of a deal, the parties have been unable to finalize terms after initially setting a deadline for Dec. 31, 2023. Monahan issued a memo to players on that date saying they agreed to extend their negotiations into 2024.
As those negotiations have been going on, the PGA Tour received a cash infusion of up to $3 billion from a consortium of team owners from other sports called Strategic Sports Group. The deal includes an initial investment of $1.5 billion, with the possibility of another $1.5 billion coming at an unspecified point in the future.
Leading up to the PGA Championship last month, McIlroy expressed doubt about an agreement coming soon:
“It’s really, really disappointing, and you know, I think the tour is in a worse place because of it. We’ll see. We’ll see where it goes from here, and we’ll see what happens. But you know, I would say my confidence level on something getting done before last week was, you know, as low as it had been. And then with this news of Jimmy (Dunne) resigning and knowing the relationship he has with the other side, and how much warmth there is from the other side, it’s concerning.”
Dunne, who resigned from the PGA Tour Policy Board on May 13, helped negotiate the initial framework deal with the PIF.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach noted that Dunne suggested in his resignation letter that he had been cut out of talks with the Saudis.
McIlroy, who resigned from the board in November, was considering returning to the fold in May. He ultimately decided not to, explaining conversations “opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before” and there “was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”
Monahan previously called the Dec. 31 deadline a “firm target” date, but there is not currently a publicly known deadline—if there is one—for their current talks.
LIV Golf players have been allowed to participate in each of the first three major tournaments this year. Brooks Koepka became the first LIV player to win a major title when he won the PGA Championship in May.