With Tyrrell Hatton winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, the case for how important it is to the DP World Tour that the golfing world comes back together has rarely been stronger.
Tyrrell Hatton made history with his third Alfred Dunhill Links Championship triumph, while the Englishman was one of six LIV Golf players to finish inside the top 20, with David Puig, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka also making the top 10.
It also felt significant that PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan was involved in the pro-am, particularly as he was paired alongside PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on the opening day of the event. Some expected important conversations between Monahan and Al-Rumayyan to take place over the course of the event as golf continues to look to find a way to end its civil war.
Others have doubted whether much will change anytime soon. Ultimately, the framework agreement was announced well over a year ago, so there is clearly a desire on both sides to bring the game back together, as well as a number of hurdles that they are struggling to clear.
PGA Tour players criticised over attitude towards Yasir Al-Rumayyan
A lot of the rhetoric has softened meanwhile. Many will remember how strongly Rory McIlroy felt about LIV Golf when it emerged. Billy Horschel insisted last week that he has a good relationship with a lot of LIV players having previously been one of the PGA Tour’s staunchest defenders.
And it seems that some are growing tired of watching the key players in the sport cosy up to each other while the game remains divided. Speaking on the No Laying Up Podcast, Chris Solomon insisted that he cannot understand the red carpet being rolled out for Al-Rumayyan.
“From where I’m sitting, so much of what is going on on the scene of all these guys playing tournaments together again, and just the general vibe with everyone, it’s almost like they’re expecting people to forget everything that’s going on,” he said.
“That’s where I’m just a little p—– off by the whole laughing it up, hamming it up, fist-pounding, playing together, hugging together, we’re kind of relying on you guys to get this done. I get that it’s complicated, Rory had some comments this week I agree with that are like, ‘yeah, you know, big financial transactions like this take a ton of time’. And I get that, but I’m still just trying to scream from the rooftops, the long-term damage you’re doing by the longer this drags out; this is a signal to people that things are going the right way. That’s kind of what I’m asking for on a certain front, but there’s no guarantees from anyone that there’s any end in sight to any of this, and there’s no guarantees from anyone or hints to anyone of what the schedule’s going to look like, what we’re all doing. So yeah it’s just a little hard to get super amped up about you laughing it up, hamming it up after all the damage that’s been done.
“Help me with this, why is everyone, at least on the PGA Tour side, so chummy with Yasir. I get it, he’s supposed to be a great guy, all this stuff, this man has rolled a grenade into professional golf; yeah, he’s made a lot of these guys richer in some ways, but life pretty miserable for a lot of them on a lot of fronts. I’ve just kind of been amazed by the whole, ‘yeah look at this guy, look how fun he is, look how great he is, it’s incredible what you’re doing for the game of golf’.”
Ominous signs heading into 2025
It feels inevitable that there will be an agreement at some stage which sees the world’s best face off a lot more frequently once again. However, there are not too many notable tournaments left in 2024.
LIV Golf have already announced their first four events next year, and they will go up against some bigger events on the PGA Tour, so it would appear unlikely that any agreement is going to come anytime soon. But it is clear that the DP World Tour would certainly be better off if LIV players had a lot more freedom to move back and forth between tours.
And it is frustrating when the most powerful figures in the game are seen to be focusing their attention elsewhere when the game desperately needs a resolution.
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