This week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player directors from the tour’s policy board met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund about a potential deal to unify golf and end the rivalry between LIV Golf and The Tour. And this would be a necessary step for the PGA Tour because they face a brutal reality if no deal is reached.
As Mark Schlabach of ESPN explains, even if the PGA Tour doesn’t desperately need the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the same fund that backs LIV Golf – they do face a pretty big threat from LIV Golf if they don’t get a deal done as their top players will continue to be poached by LIV.
“While there might not be as much urgency for the PGA Tour to strike a deal after it received a $1.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire sports team owners, athletes and others, getting an agreement finalized is probably the best thing for the future health of the sport — and the tour,” Schlabach wrote for ESPN this week.
“The simple answer is that if the PGA Tour doesn’t strike a deal with the PIF, the Saudis will keep poaching its best players. Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm is the latest star to defect, signing a contract worth more than $300 million in December.”
The PGA Tour has already lost a number of top golfers to the Saudi-backed league including Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka. If no deal is reached, they’ll likely continue to lose those top players.
