You may have seen the details of a press release from the PGA Tour last Thursday following a statement issued by the Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, and two player directors, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
It read: “We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the Public Investment Fund [the Saudi backers of LIV Golf] and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf. We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved. We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf.”
It was in June 2023 that the two parties announced a ‘framework agreement’. Since then, not a lot. Well, I say that as regards a deal being concluded. On the LIV front, however, a lot has indeed happened.
It has appointed a new CEO, Scott O’Neil, who has replaced Greg Norman. One of the first things he managed to achieve last month was to secure a worthwhile TV deal with Fox Sports in the US. Not so big a deal financially but interesting nonetheless, especially for Brits, is that he has also done TV deal for the UK – with ITV, which means terrestrial golf coverage. The US Open has now offered a place in the field at Oakmont to the highest-ranked LIV player who had not otherwise qualified. It is understood the R&A will follow suit for the Open at Portrush. So, if not a perfect scenario, the no-world-ranking-points-for LIV-golfers problem has been addressed; they can now qualify for the major championships.
Bryson DeChambeau, a sometime golfing buddy of the president, told The Times last week that a deal would be “not a merger; it’s an investment”. He also suggested one reason why he joined LIV – “being able to do YouTube content freely”, as opposed to the restrictions imposed by the PGA Tour. On the other side, it is known a huge number of PGA Tour players resent the huge fees the likes of DeChambeau and Jon Rahm received for joining LIV while they stayed loyal to the Tour. They are not disposed to see them now return to the fold. All is far from forgiven.
So what might a “reunification” look like? Given all that has happened, especially even since the beginning of the year, I don’t see it involving LIV going away. To quote DeChambeau again: “It’s here to stay for a long time, most probably past my lifetime.” And talking of time, Donald Trump had previously said “it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done”.
Hmm. I know slow play is a problem for professional golf but this is now looking ridiculous.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
