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The PGA Tour and LIV Golf appear no closer to finalizing their deal.
Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was asked Wednesday about negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which kicks off the FedEx Cup playoffs, and he hasn’t had much news. Although they missed their initial self-imposed deadline to reach a deal by more than eight months, things are in a “good place.”
“These are very complicated discussions,” Monahan said Wednesday from TPC Southwind, via Bog Harig of Sports Illustrated. “They contain many elements. When you have the level of interaction, and we continue to meet and move forward and discuss and debate, you can only have hope.
“As far as timelines and deadlines and where we are, I’ll just say we’re in a good place with the conversations. That’s the most important thing.
Yet the Tour released its schedule for the 2025 season on Wednesday and did not include LIV Golf at all — which Monahan said was a sign that the two leagues would continue to operate separately next season.
Monahan surprised the golf world last season by announcing that the Tour would form a partnership with LIV Golf after years of battling them. The two sides reached a “framework agreement,” but nothing has been finalized. A deadline had been set for December 31, 2023, but the two parties passed this date without reaching an agreement.
The Tour has since formed a “transaction subcommittee” to focus on day-to-day negotiations with the PIF. Monahan and several players – including Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods – are part of that committee, which reports to the policy council.
While the release of the Tour schedule and Monahan’s comments on Wednesday don’t mean a deal won’t be reached, it appears both sides are still a long way from a finalized deal.
“It’s definitely calmed down … there hasn’t been as much chatter in the last few months, which has been nice,” Tour board member Patrick Cantlay said in Memphis on Tuesday. “I think it’s just kind of the nature of things. There will be ebbs and flows, depending on the type of information published or announcements.
“When you say ‘the end in sight,’ it’s constantly evolving. The PGA Tour has always changed and tries to evolve and improve. It depends on what you… define as the finish line. But I know we all work incredibly hard, all the time, to achieve the best result.
LIV Golf is scheduled to host its West Virginia tournament this weekend. Two events are scheduled in September to close out its 2024 season. The top 50 in the Tour standings after this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship will qualify for the BMW Championship next week. Next, the top 30 golfers will travel to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta to finish the season.