The partnership between PGA Tour and the LIV It seems very close to being realized. The two parties, facing each other after the birth of the millionaire league financed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in 2022, had reported in the middle of last year a historic agreement to “unify the sport worldwide”, although the merger was never made official. But this Thursday, the entity that governs the American circuit issued a statement that could begin to lead to a definitive agreement.
He PGA America announced that “LIV Golf players will be eligible to play the PGA Championship (NdR: one of the four Grand Slams of this sport) and to be part of the team of the Ryder Cup“, with the objective of “ensuring that this tournament continues to offer the strongest field in golf and that the American team continues to have access to the best players” in that country.
LIV golfers had been qualified to play in the PGA Championship in the last two seasons and Brooks Koepkaone of the “deserters”, was part of the North American team for the 2023 edition of the Ryder thanks to a “grace period” in his affiliation with the PGA, which will end at the end of 2024. In recent days, the newspaper British The Telegraph and the magazine Sports Illustrated They had assured that these “exceptions” would not be extended until 2025. However, the statement from the American association denied that version.
Thanks to the announcement, players like Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson y Patrick Reed They will be available to join the team led by Keegan Bradley for the 45th edition of the Ryder to be held in New York in September next year.
The obstacle now will be the classification system. The thing is that to secure a place in the PGA Championship, players need to be well positioned in the official world ranking, which is armed with points that the LIV does not provide. While the ranking that opens the door to the Ryder is prepared based on the prize money won in the Majors and in PGA Tour events.
Who will not be able to count on their LIV players for the Ryder will be Luke Donaldteam captain Europa. In order to be able to join the European team, the golfers of the Arab league must be members of the DP World Tourowns the European half of the event, which means they have to pay the fines and serve the suspensions they received for “switching sides.” And although there are several who appealed their sanctions and are playing tournaments on the European circuit, among them the Spanish Jon Rahmnone have yet paid the financial penalty.
That reality, however, could change soon, after several requests to accelerate negotiations between the DP World Tour and the Saudi Investment Fund. “The feeling in the team is that we want the best players to play,” said the Englishman. Justin Rosea member of the team that was crowned in Rome, in the 44th edition of the contest.
The LIV was founded in 2022 with an investment of more than 2 billion dollars from the PIF and seduced many of the world’s golf stars with opulent contracts and prizes (in addition to the millionaire “fees”, the prize pools of the tournaments start at 250 million dollars) and a less tight schedule.
After two years of “war”, the American association ended up accepting the new reality and reached an agreement with the Saudi league, which had to be made official before December 31. Then both parties agreed to an extension to formalize the partnership, but they have not yet signed it.
After months of uncertainty, negotiations resumed in recent weeks and both sides seemed optimistic. However, in the last few hours the obstacles appeared again.
In the preview of BMW PGA Championship which takes place this weekend in Surrey, England, Rory McIlroy He told what, for him, are the two biggest obstacles for the agreement to come to fruition.
“He Department of Justice (from the United States) and the different interests between the two groups of players,” said the Northern Irishman, a member of the committee overseeing the talks on behalf of the PGA.
The current number three in the world expanded on the clashes between golfers who stayed on the traditional circuit and those who were seduced by the LIV: “I think the tours want it to happen. Investors, without a doubt, want it to happen because “They can see the benefit to them. But there are different opinions among the players about what should happen, and when you have an organization run by its members, things get a little complicated.”
“I would say maybe half of the LIV players want the deal to be done. And it’s similar on the PGA Tour. Because everyone defends their interests. Some would benefit from no deal, but obviously Others would benefit from it.” she added.
The biggest problem, according to specialized media reports, is that the PGA golfers want their former teammates to return the money they received as “fees” to move to the new circuit. Something that LIV players are not willing to do, as Rahm made clear on more than one occasion, who, according to anonymous sources, signed a contract for 500 million dollars.
Why does the United States Department of Justice have weight in the negotiation? Because the partnership project that had been made public 15 months ago established that the Saudi Investment Fund would be the investor in a new league, which would have Yasir Al-Rumayyangovernor of the PIF, as president Jay Monahancommissioner of the PGA Tour, as managing director. But the government of the North American country does not welcome the fact that a league financed by Saudi Arabia operates within its borders without transparency and takes control of such an important institution within American sports. For this reason, the Senate demanded that the PIF governor respond to a request for testimony and information from Congress, which has not yet received a response.
In any case, the announcement made this Thursday by the PGA, opening the doors to “defecting” players to two tournaments of enormous prestige could mean that the agreement is on track.