It did not escape the attention of golf fans this week when it was confirmed that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan would be playing together during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Of course, from the outside, there have been very signs of genuine progress since the framework agreement was signed well over a year ago. So it definitely appears to be significant that Jay Monahan and Yasir-Al Rumayyan are set to tee off together at Carnoustie in the first round at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Obviously, golf fans are not naive to think that significant progress is likely to be made while the pair are tackling one of the toughest golf courses on The Open Championship rota. However, it does appear to be an encouraging sign at the very least.
It does seem that golf cannot continue in its current form, with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf completely divided, while the DP World Tour has become something of an afterthought while the two heavyweights are having their seasons play out.
Progress possible in peace talks during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that there is actually likely to be progress made while Monahan and Al-Rumayyan are tackling Carnoustie. However, he did also share where the problems could still lie, with PGA Tour and LIV players having different views regarding how any reintegration should be handled.
“I know there’s going to be very, very important conversations going on this week, especially if they’re playing together, because now you’ve taken the aspect of sitting across a table and trying to come up with what’s best for you, and maybe not necessarily what’s best for the person on the other side of the table, and you’re putting it into the context where you’re just having conversations on the golf course. And anyone who’s ever done business on the golf course will tell you that’s a really good place to do it because it’s relaxed and you don’t have all of those expectations,” he said.
“So I expect to take another step, maybe two steps forward. The bigger question here is a couple of sticking points. It still remains to be seen how you get by those sticking points, because I don’t think that it’s Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan that are getting caught up in these sticking points. It’s everyone else around them. I had a player come up to me last week at the Presidents Cup and ask me how many players on both sides, players who play on LIV, players that play on the PGA Tour, want there to be an agreement. And my response was I would hope all of them on some level would want an agreement. Because we can all agree right now, in my mind, that without an agreement, the game is in a really, really bad spot.
“What we end up with is Bryson DeChambeau winning the US Open at Pinehurst and having all this attention on golf, and him splitting off to go in a different direction and the rest of the PGA Tour going up to the Travelers Championship in Connecticut to play in an event the exact same week. That’s not good for the game, it’s not good for the fans. It’s not good for the media partners or the corporate partners, and I don’t think that’s sustainable, so that’s my answer.
“How we get there, that’s when things start to unravel because you have personalities on both sides – I’m not blaming one side or another – there are PGA Tour players that want those players who went to LIV Golf, if they’re going to be welcomed back into the fold, so to speak, they want a pound of flesh to be quite frank. They want there to be suspensions, or fines, or whatever the case may be. I can tell you from experience, talking to LIV guys, they have no interest in paying fines or serving suspensions.”
Compromise is needed – from all sides
It has been clear for some time that not everyone is going to be completely happy with whatever agreement is finally struck. Ultimately, some will now welcome LIV players back into the fold for the perceived good of the game, while others clearly hold some animosity.
LIV players meanwhile, seem to have little interest in being penalised for making the jump in the first place. Whatever you think of the breakaway league, that does not appear to be helpful considering that they would have received large sums to move away in the first place. Just regaining their PGA Tour cards without a fine or a suspension would arguably represent those players having their cake and eating it too.
Perhaps this saga will be reflected upon in years to come as a situation which benefitted golf in the long run – much like World Series Cricket bringing a lot of positives to the game which still influence cricket today.
But as things stand, it cannot simply be the PGA Tour and DP World Tour players who have to compromise to accommodate those who went to LIV.
Perhaps this event on the DP World Tour will indeed have an impact on finally getting an agreement over the line which leads to the game coming back together in the coming years.
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