PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan stated he met with President Donald Trump on the White Home this week because the tour strikes nearer to finalizing a long-sought funding take care of the Saudi Arabian backers of rival LIV Golf.
Monahan stated Thursday in an announcement he and Adam Scott, one of many participant administrators on the PGA Tour board, met with Trump and requested him to become involved within the negotiations “for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved.”
“We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf,” Monahan stated.
The assertion was signed by Monahan, Scott and Tiger Woods, who’s vice chairman of the industrial PGA Tour Enterprises. It didn’t say Woods was on the assembly, nor was it clear who requested for the assembly.
The PGA Tour and the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia first agreed to a deal in June 2023, which ended the antitrust lawsuits between them. However that framework settlement drew the eye of the Justice Division, and the 12 months ended with out a deal in place.
The tour and PIF have been assembly for almost a 12 months. Trump, simply 10 days after he was elected, invited Monahan to play golf at Trump Worldwide in West Palm Seashore, Florida, on Nov. 15.
Trump stated on the “Let’s Go!” podcast on the eve of the election that “it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done.”
“I’m really going to work on other things, to be honest with you,” Trump stated on the podcast. “I think we have much bigger problems than that. But I do think we should have one tour and they should have the best players in that tour.”
The tour has been retaining the Justice Division knowledgeable of its negotiations for the final a number of months because it makes progress on an funding take care of PIF.
After the deadline for the unique framework settlement with PIF expired on the finish of 2023, the tour signed with Strategic Sports activities Group, a consortium of North American sports activities house owners spearheaded by Fenway Sports activities Group, for a $1.5 billion funding in PGA Tour Enterprises with the potential for that to double.
PGA Tour Enterprises is separate from the tax-exempt PGA Tour that offers with competitors.
The newest negotiations are for PIF to change into a minority investor within the industrial arm. Nonetheless unclear is how that may patch up the fractured golf panorama.
PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, are the monetary muscle behind LIV Golf. The breakaway spent some $2 billion to recruit high gamers, who then have been suspended by the PGA Tour. That group included Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. They’ve mixed to win 17 majors, and three have been No. 1 on this planet.
They solely time all of the world’s finest compete collectively now are the 4 majors.
Rory McIlroy, who serves on a transaction subcommittee for tour negotiations, stated final week at Pebble Seashore he felt a brand new administration was “going to be a bit more deal friendly.”
“I think from an investment standpoint, that deal should and will be done,” McIlroy stated. “But it doesn’t solve the problem of what the landscape of golf looks like going forward. I’d say the biggest impediment is maybe the differing visions of what golf should look like in the future.”
Trump’s involvement in golf goes again greater than twenty years when he started constructing a portfolio of high-end golf programs, and shopping for the famend Turnberry Golf Membership in Scotland.
He additionally purchased Doral Resort exterior Miami, a venerable PGA Tour cease that had hosted a World Golf Championship till transferring it in 2016 to Mexico Metropolis when it grew to become troublesome to discover a title sponsor with Trump and his ubiquitous presence.
Three of Trump’s programs have hosted LIV occasions, together with one this 12 months at Doral.
