PGA TOUR’s Recent Meeting with LIV Golf, PIF ‘Didn’t Go As Well As Hoped’

Last week, members of the PGA TOUR’s hierarchy met with representatives of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) to continue their talks about a merger with the wealth fund and LIV Golf. President Donald Trump was also at the meeting.

But reports indicate that the talks “didn’t go as well as PGA TOUR executives had hoped,” meaning the merger talks and potential reunification of golf could be delayed a bit more.

For about a month, things have seemed to be moving in the right direction. Meetings between the groups had gone well, and even Tiger Woods, a player director for the PGA TOUR, said he was hopeful about the state of professional golf, feeling it would “heal quickly.”

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The negotiations truly have two sides, and both have their leverage. The PGA TOUR still has what is considered the strongest lineup in golf, but LIV is not full of slouches, and it has several names that would be a benefactor to the TOUR's future. 

LIV has the ability to pull basically any player from the PGA TOUR away with its limitless cash flow. It also has already committed to expanding its operations and extending its contracts with certain areas, like Australia, where it will return through at least 2031.

Golfweek's Eamon Lynch wrote:

"All of this is moot in the absence of a deal between the Tour and PIF, and it remains unclear how close that is. Rumblings from informed sources suggest that Thursday’s meeting at the White House didn’t go as well as Tour executives had hoped, which suggests that PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, remains determined to keep shoveling cash into the furnace of his own pridefulness. There’s no metric by which his folly can be judged economically successful. Roughly $5 billion later, the only market share LIV can boast is in owning just enough players that fans care to see returned. It’s a hostage-taking endeavor, albeit willing and well-compensated hostages. But not every hostage is of equal value, and all of them lose value as time passes. Fans move on, more quickly than one-time stars like to admit."

LIV has some very expensive, yet crucial, contracts to extend as well this offseason, which is something that could play a part in its talks with the PGA TOUR. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau both will need to be extended by LIV this coming offseason, or they could potentially return to the PGA TOUR.

What makes this interesting is there is a risk-reward scenario for both tours here. The PGA TOUR could delay negotiations or a merger agreement until the end of 2025. If LIV cannot extend these two players, it would be a massive blow to the tour, and the PGA TOUR could stand to benefit and have the upper hand.

However, LIV could also take the risk and delay talks. They could try to extend Koepka and DeChambeau, and if successful, continue plugging away separately from the PGA TOUR.

But the game of golf needs unification, so it would be more ideal for the two tours to iron out a deal now.