PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan ‘certain’ merger with LIV Golf will be agreed by 2023 deadline
- The PGA Tour and LIV Golf agreed to a framework agreement on June 6
- At this moment, the deadline to finalize said agreement is on December 31
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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is confident – well, even more so – that a deal will be finalized between the Tour and LIV Golf ahead of the December 31 deadline.
The Tour announced a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund and the European tour on June 6 to create a for-profit company called ‘PGA Tour Enterprises’ in which the Public Investment Fund would be a minority investor.
‘We’re probably right where I would expect that we would be,’ Monahan said Tuesday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, would be CEO of the company and have a seat on the PGA Tour board, though Monahan said the PGA Tour had safeguards to call the shots.
They have until year’s end to finalize the agreement, though the sides can agreed to extend the deadline.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is more than confident a deal will be finalized with LIV
The Saudi-backed circuit and Monahan’s PGA Tour have, at this juncture, until December 31
Saudi Arabia PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan is set to become the PGA Tour Enterprises CEO
As for what this means for the future of LIV Golf or what penalties LIV players would face if they chose to come back to the tours, that remains part of the negotiations.
Monahan said negotiations are private and he could not reveal details, even to the players.
He said meetings with PIF and European tour CEO Keith Pelley have been frequent. He described an ‘intensity’ and an ‘urgency’ about the talks and a lot of work that remains.
With no plans to alter the existing 2024 PGA schedule, the opening event at Kapalua in Maui is ‘absolutely’ still on the PGA Tour calendar per Monahan.
‘We’re in constant contact,’ he said. ‘I’m in contact with the governor. We hope to be a source of inspiration for the great people of Maui and Lahaina by the time that we get to Maui in January.’
