LIV Golf League commissioner Greg Norman vows the Saudi-backed series is going “full steam ahead” despite a new PGA Tour deal worth up to $3 billion USD ($A4.6bn) with US sports team investors.
And PGA Tour player Patrick Cantlay, who helped approve the deal, said Thursday the group of US sports team owners involved will help decide any merger deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
“The PGA Tour is definitely stronger after having this deal go through,” Cantlay, second after the first round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, said.
“As far as PIF, I haven’t been having any real conversations myself about that, so that’s a question for down the road for the board and also for the Newco (PGA Tour Enterprises) board to decide.”
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The new for-profit group consists of several US sports team owners and their inclusion could delay any bid to reunite golf’s top players under one tour.
The PGA Tour said PIF merger talks were making progress and that PIF would be allowed to invest in PGA Tour Enterprises, subject to US politicians’ inquiries into Saudi investments in US sports businesses.
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Norman, in a letter to LIV staff obtained by The Golf Channel, took credit for creating the atmosphere that set up the PGA Tour deal with Strategic Sports Group (SSG) even as merger talks drag on between the PGA and DP World tours and LIV’s backers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
“Nothing announced by other tours or investment groups changes LIV Golf’s positive trajectory or future plans,” Norman wrote, according to Golf Channel on Thursday.
“This broader interest and commitment to the game and investment in its future would not have happened without the emergence of LIV Golf as an innovative force in the golf ecosystem.”
The PGA Tour and PIF announced the framework agreement for a merger deal last June but have not managed to hammer out details of a final contract, including possible punishments for PGA defectors to LIV wanting to return.
While the agreement did shut down lawsuits that would have revealed details of PIF and PGA operations, nothing else has been settled.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth said Wednesday there was no need for a merger now other than reuniting top players under one group, even though the PGA-SSG deal allows for an investment from PIF.
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World number two Rory McIlroy said on Tuesday that PGA players who defected to LIV Golf should be allowed to return with no punishment in the name of having one tour with all of the world’s top talent.
Cantlay indicated that issue has PGA players, some of whom rejected rich LIV deals to stay with the PGA, greatly divided.
“Everyone’s divided,” Cantlay said. “As far as coming back, we’ll see. It’s up to a group of us. I know players feel all over the board on that issue and so my job as a player-director is to represent the entire membership.
“If something like that were to come down the road, I’m sure we would have to have a robust conversation around that topic.”
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