While it has been well over a year since the PGA Tour and PIF announced the framework agreement which seemed to be an indication that the game was edging closer to coming back together, golf fans are still no closer to knowing what the future of the sport really looks like.
It has been clear for some time that many of the world’s best players are ready to see a resolution. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will meet Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in a match in December.
However, LIV Golf have already announced that their opening four events next season will be on the same dates as some of the key dates early on in the PGA Tour calendar. So it does appear that little is likely to change in the coming months.
It appears increasingly likely that LIV Golf will continue to exist once the game’s civil war is over. But obviously, deciding how the two tours, as well as the DP World Tour, can co-exist is going to be a key stumbling block which needs to be cleared.
Matthew Fitzpatrick suggests how he would like golf to look once the sport comes back together
Perhaps there is a world where the tours continue separately, with the fields mixing for the biggest events. But there is plenty of work to be done before the situation is resolved once and for all.
And speaking ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Matthew Fitzpatrick shared what he believes to potentially be the best way forward for the game.
“I had a few conversations with Billy Foster about it, my caddie. We spoke. Personally my idea would be you have basically like a Premier League, Championship league, of golf, whether LIV is the Premier League or PGA Tour is the Premiere League, whatever it is, and then you can bring everyone together. And there’s more of a relegation/promotion, there’s a few more stories there, you can work your way up. If everyone was together, I feel like that would be more beneficial, anyway,” he said.
“I can’t sit here and say that I know the viewing figures for LIV or PGA Tour are going up or down. I just don’t know. But as a big football fan, there’s got to be more stories in the regulation promotion rather than personally what I think there is now. Obviously I know LIV is a closed shop and they have a team aspect, which as a football fan, I love team stuff. Ryder Cup is amazing. All that stuff is great.
“So I’m not fully against the team aspect but if it a closed shop there’s not too many story lines in there. But at the same time, the PGA Tour is that, becoming a little bit more like that. What formats are they going to do? Is there a 70-man field? I don’t know. There’s people that are smarter than me are involved. I’m very happy that Andy Cohen and SSG are involved in the PGA Tour now. They know how to run businesses and know what to do and they are smart people. and smarter than me, and I would say smarter than the majority of the PGA Tour players and golfers.”
Why the top players’ needs should not particularly matter in talks
The important players in deciding golf’s future are surely those slightly further down the pecking order. The likes of Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy are going to thrive whatever happens.
But it is those further down the world rankings who are likely to experience the most upheaval. It is also essential that there is a pathway for the improving players to find their way onto the best stages in the game – wherever they may be.
That was one of the issues with LIV, where the fields are limited. But, as Fitzpatrick notes, that is also an issue that the PGA Tour has somewhat embraced with their signature events.
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