Golf Insider Has PGA TOUR, PIF in Agreement, DOJ Given 4 Options

Posted by author February 13, 2025 Golf

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The current controversy between the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf may be coming to an end if negotiations between the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) result in a deal. Among other things, the split has resulted in not all of the world’s best players competing against each other, with the exception for some in the four major championships.

Speaking about the topic, Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported that the PGA Tour and the PIF have finalized the financial terms of a definitive agreement. Hoggard provided the information during the podcast he hosts with Ryan Lavner.

By all accounts the PGA TOUR and the Public Investment Fund have come to financial terms of what this would look like, and they’ve actually, my understanding is, come to numerous versions of this. So they put that in front of the Department of Justice and I will give the Tour credit on this front, and the PIF.

Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund interact during day one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 at Carnoustie Golf Links.

Warren Little/Getty Images

Hoggard also mentioned that both organizations presented “numerous” options to the Justice Department for evaluation, listing them as “A, B, C or D.”

They didn’t want to wait through the process again, they didn’t want to just give them one option, and the Department of Justice say ‘nope that’s not going to work’. They have given them A B C or D, like ‘you tell us which one of these versions is going to work and we’ll go with it’.

Rex Hoggard is a respected golf journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the game. His resume includes extensive and fruitful stints with major media outlets such as Golfweek and the Golf Channel.

The division within the sport began with LIV Golf’s emergence in 2022 and the departure of several top players. Among the top stars who committed to the breakaway league were Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson.

A year later (June 2023), the PGA TOUR and PIF, LIV Golf’s financial benefactor, announced a framework agreement to negotiate a final deal that would end golf’s schism. However, that final agreement has not yet been reached.

Nevertheless, contacts between the two sides have intensified in recent months. The leaders of both organizations, Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the PIF, have met face-to-face several times. They even played a round of golf together at the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Pro-Am event, with LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton eventually winning the tournament.

Stances are also softening within the sport. In just over a week, both the USGA and R&A have announced direct pathways for LIV players to play in their major championship.

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