PGA Tour Says Dec. 31 is ‘Firm Target’ to Reach Deal With Saudis

Over the past couple of months, several reports have surfaced suggesting that the deadline of Dec. 31 for the PGA Tour to finalize its framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) may not be met but that it was able to be extended if necessary.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan seemed to refute those reports on Wednesday night. 

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Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Monahan said that he will be meeting with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week as talks continue. 

“We’re having conversations with multiple parties,” Monahan said. “The deadline for our conversations with PIF, as you know, is a firm target. I’ll be with Yasir next week, and we continue to advance our conversations. And I think it’s pretty well known that there’s a large number of other interested parties that we’re also pushing to think about.”

🚨#NEW: Jay Monahan dropped a few nuggets at the NYT Dealbook summit including that he will be meeting with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week, per @AmateurStatus pic.twitter.com/AqNGqdygAO

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) November 29, 2023

Monahan seems confident a deal will be struck, as it appears that the new entity may feature involvement from both the PIF and another source of financial backing.

“When this gets finalized, the PGA Tour is going to be in a position that I talked about earlier, where again, the athletes are owners in their sport, and you’ve got not only the PIF, but you’ve likely got another co-investor, with significant experience in business, in sport and brand that’s going to help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us take share from other sports and even be more competitive,” Monahan said.

“What’s most important to our players is that they go from the model of being independent contractors to being owners.”

Tiger Woods also weighed in on the talks from a player’s perspective. Woods was added to the PGA Tour Policy Board over the summer and is an active participant in the talks. 

This idea of player ownership was floated in a memo from Monahan to players two weeks ago.

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Based on the commissioner’s comments, he seems to be more confident than outside observers of a deal being completed. Perhaps that is a smokescreen or that negotiations have improved in recent weeks. 

Either way, even though there won’t be much action on the course in the final month of 2023, it will be an important time for the world of golf. 

Cover Photo via X