Masters Champion Says PGA TOUR – PIF Negotiations Are ‘Getting There’

A Masters Champion says fans should expect the PGA TOUR’s negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) to heat up soon as things are “getting there.”

For a year now, golf fans have been waiting for more progress in the negotiations between the PGA TOUR and the PIF after the two entities announced they would work together on a partnership. The news gathered polarizing reactions from both players and fans.

However, things are apparently “getting close” after two deadlines have come and gone.

Masters Champion Adam Scott thinks PGA TOUR and PIF talks are progressing (Credit: PGA Tour)

Adam Scott, who is a PGA TOUR player director, said things are “getting there” and that things were “moving along as quickly as it can” as the two parties are seemingly working toward a deal.

He said to Golfweek at the RBC Canadian Open that he was confident in the PGA TOUR’s vision for the future and how the PIF will play into it:

“I think the PGA Tour has a vision of what it wants to look like 12, 18 (months) and then going forward, five, 10 and 20, you know, or at least 10 years down the line, let’s say, and what it should evolve into. But at the moment, there’s another party that they’re negotiating with that has to believe in that vision as well, and I don’t know exactly what their vision is.”

It appears that the major hold-up in the entire negotiation process is the TOUR and the PIF have been on different wavelengths regarding both short-term and long-term goals.

Things are moving along, but the hold-up has been mostly related to the changes that could come from the partnership and how the PGA TOUR’s landscape and what is considered “normal” in the scheme of competition will play out.

In Adam Scott’s opinion, someone is going to have to be more transparent:

“I think we are getting there, for sure. Eventually someone is going to have to put it out exactly what it is, and I think that will happen very soon. I think so. You have to break the ice, kind of, and someone has to show a hand. It’s got to happen soon. It’s moving along as quickly as it can.”

How the game of golf could change from the eventual partnership remains to be seen. However, most fans want to see those golfers who have defected to LIV Golf rejoin their PGA TOUR counterparts, and it could happen if the two can make a deal.

Cover Image via Golf Digest