The PGA Tour’s flagship event, The Players Championship, is this week in Ponta Vedra Beach, Florida. Commissioner Jay Monahan always gives a press conference at The Players, which many hoped could be the scene of a big announcement. Recently, Monahan and player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott went to the White House for a meeting about investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Despite recent comments from Woods to the contrary, Golf Digest’s Joel Beall reports that negotiations are stalling.
“This remains undeniable: Negotiations have hit a significant impasse. Monahan’s public silence since the Framework Agreement of June 6, 2023, made his forthright and assured media address last month at Torrey Pines particularly striking,” Beall wrote.
“Woods, renowned for his strategic reticence, reinforced this narrative during CBS’ Genesis Invitational broadcast, suggesting a deal’s imminent conclusion,” Beall continued.
So what happened at the White House? Beall says, “…the tour delegation arrived in Washington D.C. last month confident, convinced that Trump’s tacit endorsement had tilted the balance of power in their favor. However, the White House meeting’s aftermath left [PIF Governor Yasir] Al-Rumayyan bewildered and incensed, reportedly characterizing the tour’s proposals as not merely inadequate but disrespectful.”
The PGA Tour is rolling on but the negotiations loom over this entire season. Will this be the last season of split tours in golf?
The PGA Tour needs to figure out Saudi investment
The negotiations were about how the Saudi Public Investment Fund will invest in the new PGA Tour Enterprises. That company is a for-profit arm of the tour that includes investment from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG). That is a group of American sports owners including Arthur Blank, Steve Cohen, and the Fenway Sports Group. Al-Rumayyan was apparently offended either about how much he was asked to spend or the amount he was offered.
On Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy said that a deal “doesn’t feel any closer.” Meanwhile, the PGA Tour continues to falter in television ratings and is in desperate need of stars. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau playing at TPC Sawgrass would give the week extra juice, but instead, the conversation runs through the White House.
The PIF is currently funding the LIV Golf tour, who’s television ratings make the PGA Tour look like the Super Bowl. It is in the best interest of every golfer to bring the leagues together. But the government is concerned about the monopolization of the sport. Since Monahan said the deal was about “taking a competitor off the board,” they have reason to be.
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