PGA Tour, PIF pairings raise eyebrows on DP World Tour this week

Negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which runs LIV Golf, continue to drag on, but eye-raising pairings at this week’s DP World Tour event might be a hint that a final agreement between the warring parties is in the offing.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship goes down this week in Scotland, where star pros will compete alongside family members and celebrities in a concurrent pro-am across historic courses: St. Andrews’ Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

Rory McIlroy typically plays every year with his father, Gerry. But the leading figures of both sides in the PGA Tour-PIF feud are also playing this week.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will tee it up alongside American pro Billy Horschel. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, is also playing the event, teaming up with LIV Golf pro Dean Burmester.

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Whether by accident or by design, Horschel and Burmester are paired together for Thursday’s opening round, teeing off at 4 a.m. ET (9 a.m. local time). That means that their pro-am partners, Monahan and Al-Rumayyan, will also be playing with each other on Day 1.

For Friday’s second round, Horschel and McIlroy will be paired together, giving the four-time major winner time to strategize with Monahan.

The pairings weirdness continues on Saturday, when McIlroy will play alongside Burmester and Rumayyan.

Furthermore, in all three of those rounds, the two groups will play in successive pairings, potentially giving them extra time to negotiate while waiting on tees together.

While no details of a final deal between the Tour and PIF have been publicized, the talks seem to be heating up.

At the Tour Championship in August, Monahan acknowledged as much, saying, “We’re at the table and actively engaged with the Public Investment Fund. We remain hopeful about that outcome. But at the same time, we’re moving forward at speed and focused on what we can control, because that’s what we owe to our fans.”

The sides then reportedly held secret talks in New York City in September.

McIlroy, who initially was a vocal critic of LIV Golf, admitted regret for his involvement in the feud in May, and expressed a desire to see a final deal finalized between the two sides.

“My whole thing is I’m just disappointed to what it’s done to — not to the game of golf, the game of golf will be fine — but men’s professional golf and this sort of divide we have at the minute,” McIlroy said ahead of the RBC Canadian Open. “Hopefully we’re on a path to sorting that out and getting that to come back together, but, yeah, I mean, hindsight’s always 20/20, but in hindsight I wish I hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved as I have.”