The ‘Framework Agreement’ Turns 1: Still More Questions Than Answers as Pro Golf Remains Split

It was the pure definition of something coming out of nowhere.

One year ago today, a press release and announcement on social media left pro golfers, media, and fans alike stunned.

After over a year of public feuding, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced an agreement to join forces. 

The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce landmark agreement to unify men’s professional golf.

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 6, 2023

Initial Reaction by Players Was Hostile

While we came to know the “framework agreement” as more of an instance where the PIF will – if a deal is made – provide a substantial cash infusion into what is now known as PGA Tour Enterprises, the initial thought was that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were going to merge. 

Maverick McNealy told Golf Channel:

“I had like 40 text messages and was like, Wait a second, ‘A deal with PIF’, what’s going on here? Do I play for LIV now? What’s the deal?’”

Even top-tier players like Rory McIlroy, who said he felt like a sacrificial lamb for defending the PGA Tour so strongly, were blindsided by the announcement. Monahan traveled to Canada, where the PGA Tour was playing the RBC Canadian Open, to field questions from what he found out to be an angry membership.

PGA Tour didn’t communicate this to players at all. They found out same time we did.

“Shocked and confused.”

“Disgusted. They didn’t tell us anything.”

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) June 6, 2023

A week after the deal, Monahan took a leave of absence from his job, later citing anxiety over the deal and the players’ reaction as the reason. He later said he regretted the way the agreement was announced. 

What Has and Hasn’t Happened?

Some parts of the agreement have come to fruition, albeit not in the way it was originally expected. 

The press release stated that a new board of directors will oversee a new for-profit entity. That has happened in the form of PGA Tour Enterprises, but where things took a turn was when the Tour took a cash infusion from Strategic Sports Group to get the new organization off the ground. The framework agreement stated that the PIF would make the capital investment and have the first right of refusal to allow any other investors. 

In a memo to players, Monahan said that a “fair and objective process” would be established for LIV Golf players to re-apply to the PGA Tour or DP World Tour following the 2023 season. Obviously, that didn’t happen since the agreement wasn’t finalized by the original date of Dec. 31, 2023.

Negotiations continue without an end date in sight.

Men’s Pro Golf Remains in Limbo

One thing the agreement did was get many members of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf on the same page. Even though there has still been player movement to LIV – punctuated by Jon Rahm joining the circuit last December – most golfers on both sides of the aisle say they want the same thing: a unified game where the best in the world can compete against each other more than four times a year.

Some circles have not stopped criticizing Monahan. Just this week, PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele didn’t give the PGA Tour commissioner a ringing endorsement.

Schauffele said: 

“What I can say is that throughout all of this turmoil, what’s probably bothered me the most, now more than ever, is that we need someone to lead us; we need a leader.”

https://x.com/JoelMBeall/status/1798696024816689463

The truth is summed up in that one post. A year has gone by, and we truly don’t know anything more than we did one year ago. It remains to be seen if a deal will ever be made, and all everyone can do is wait – no matter what damage, in both the short- and long-term, is done to men’s professional golf.

Cover Image via Golfweek