DP World Exec Expects PGA Tour-PIF Deal to Be Finalized Before the 2025 Masters

An executive with DP World, the United Arab Emirates-based company that is the title sponsor of the DP World Tour, believes the negotiations between PGA Tour Enterprises and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are wrapping up and a deal will be coming within the next six months.

Daniel Van Otterdijk, who is the group chief communications officer at DP World, told Gulf News that he sees the finish line in sight.

Credit: ESPN

Van Otterdijk, who said he doesn’t have a direct line to the negotiations, told the site:

“We’re confident that within the next six months they’ll come up with a structure that befits world golf in a much better way than what we currently have. But, of course, there are legacy issues to sort out. His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan (Governor of PIF) is probably one of the biggest golf fans in the world. So, everyone has the right intention. And when you have parties who disagree on the way forward, but everybody has the right intention, inevitably they come together and solve it.”

A timeline of a deal being completed by the 2025 Masters is ironic because the 2024 Masters was an unofficial deadline to reach an agreement after the original deadline of Dec. 31, 2023, was extended. The sides came to the framework agreement on June 6, 2023.

Last month, Rory McIlroy, one of the people in direct negotiations with Al-Rumayyan, said that he expected a deal to be reached by the end of 2024.