‘May not be ultimately possible:’ PGA Tour-LIV deal takes different shape at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Hours after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan evaded a series of questions about the state of the PGA Tour’s negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), Adam Scott stepped to the mic at TPC Sawgrass and pulled back the curtain on why things have seemingly ground to a halt.

“I think the biggest hangup is in how we see the highest level of competitive golf going forward,” said Scott, the player-director on the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council, who, along with Monahan, recently met with President Donald Trump to discuss the negotiations. “The product of LIV and the product of the PGA Tour work in very different ways. So I think the challenge is figuring out how that can come together and be really reunification, which is kind of what everyone is shooting for.”

Last month at Pebble Beach, Monahan struck a confident tone when discussing the reunification of golf under “one tour.” That tone has since shifted as the two sides seem to be locked in a stalemate over what the future will look like and what LIV’s team-golf model role in that reality is.

While Monahan, Scott and the rest of the PGA Tour negotiating team want to heal the wounds that fractured the professional game, it seems like they are starting to come to the realization that the great reunification might take a while longer.

“I think it is part of the stumbling block,” Scott said. “The Tour’s being very careful and respectful of everyone and wanting to give everyone, the golf fans and the media and the players, the product that they want. But we’re starting from two different sides of this, so I think it’s hard to find the balance that’s acceptable for everybody. And it also may not be ultimately possible.”

While the two sides appear to be digging back in, Monahan and the PGA Tour — buoyed by improved ratings and early wins by big names like Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg — will plow ahead, looking to capitalize and build off their momentum.

The PIF and LIV can come along, or not.

“I think there’s an urgency for a result, no matter what,” Scott said. “I think that would be in everyone’s best interest, to be honest, whether you’re the PIF or a player anywhere or the PGA Tour. I think it just doesn’t need to linger. I think there are positive things happening in the game and at the PGA Tour, and that can continue to happen. I just think we hopefully will get to an outcome soon. That would be what I would like. I guess that signals urgency.

“I feel like there’s more of a feeling like no matter what happens with these conversations and negotiations going forward, the Tour has to move forward as well. It can’t just kind of stay in limbo. We need to do the best we can, and I think you’re seeing that.”

News

When LIV Golf emerged and fractured the sport three years ago, the PGA Tour found itself fighting for survival against an opponent with the money and willingness to bleed them dry. But almost two years since the framework agreement and three since LIV’s arrival, the PGA Tour has stabilized itself and believes it’s in a position of strength as the premiere golf league in the world.

When asked about fellow Australian Cam Smith’s move to LIV and the lack of buzz since his defection, Scott pointed to one of the biggest arrows in the PGA Tour’s quiver in golf’s civil conflict.

“They seem happy doing what they’re doing,” Scott said of Smith and fellow Aussie Marc Leishman. “But I think it is one obvious thing, the difference in the platform they have is significant, that we don’t hear from them that much or hear what they’re up to. You know, that was one of the consequences, good or bad, that came with the move over there and away from the PGA Tour.”

Last week, McIlroy said the PGA Tour “didn’t need a deal.” He wants a deal. The sport of golf would benefit from one. But the PGA Tour itself does not need one to survive now that it has found its footing.

During his opening remarks Tuesday, Monahan said the reunification talks “are real” and remain ongoing. The PGA Tour commissioner acknowledged there are parts of LIV Golf they might want to “integrate” into the PGA Tour, but they won’t do so if it “diminishes the strength” of the Tour’s platform or its “very real momentum.”

That’s the PGA Tour’s position. Or at least its public posture as it looks to project strength in negotiations. They want to bring the game together but can’t wait around for it to happen.

The Players Championship and Monahan’s “State of the Tour” address is a prism to view the entire golf year through. The last three years have seen the Tour go from denial and defense in the face of an existential threat to declaring victory without a buzzer sounding. Each annual edict was eventually rendered moot by the actions that followed.

But on Tuesday, hours after Monahan revealed little about the state of a PGA Tour-LIV deal, Scott offered a sobering view of where things stand, and the shape of negotiations started to look different.

Reunification might be right around the corner, or it might never come. But that can’t be the Tour’s only focus. Not anymore.