The PGA Tour feel like they are in a ‘position of offense’ over LIV Golf after meeting held with players

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It has been a fascinating year in the ongoing saga involving the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, with talks on hold after an agreement looking closer than it ever has been.

Few would have believed it had they been told during the Genesis Invitational that the game of golf would reach the end of major championship season still be awaiting a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf‘s owners the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Tiger Woods felt a merger was imminent at Torrey Pines. And the two sides met at the White House shortly after, with Donald Trump seemingly determined to be the man who could say that he brought golf back together.

However, those discussions seemingly came to nothing. And there have been suggestions that talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are not taking place now.

PGA Tour optimistic about its current position despite not reaching a deal with LIV Golf

Despite the stalemate, it does not feel as though the two sides are at war after LIV initially completely turned the golfing world on its head. It appears that the two tours are content to continue on their own way.

Of course, what is being said behind the scenes could be something quite different.

But according to Max Greyserman, who was speaking to Fried Egg Golf, there is optimism among those on the PGA Tour that they are in a very good position as he recalled the first meeting with new CEO Brian Rolapp.

“When I was at the Travelers Championship, we had a meeting and Brian was there, essentially being introduced as the next CEO. I haven’t had much time to spend around him, but he seems like a great guy, by the way. I’m sure I’ll learn more about him as things go on. 

“In that meeting, the Board was there, and a lot of important people were there. I basically got the sense that the PGA Tour feels like they’re in a very strong position now – you have to bring LIV into this equation as well. [The Tour] feels like they’re in a very strong position, essentially a position of offense. 

“They – and when I say ‘they’, I’m talking about the Board and most of the players – feel like they weathered the storm. And they believe that the PGA Tour product and the viewership through different sources is strong and people are watching golf, people are paying attention, people like the current product of the PGA Tour. And LIV, on the other hand, not many people are watching it.

“So the PGA Tour feels like whether LIV goes on forever or dies tomorrow, they’re not worrying about what’s going on with LIV because they’re just focusing on making the PGA Tour a better product. How do we do that? It’s a pretty good product right now. Sure, you could argue signature events, no signature events, all that stuff.”

The event some PGA Tour players are not particularly fond of

Complacency from the PGA Tour arguably played a part in LIV Golf being able to make such an impact. They must have felt that there was never a chance that another league would stand a chance of luring some of their best players away.

Rolapp’s appointment is arguably an acknowledgement that the PGA Tour does need to make changes to capitalise on its current position. But keeping everyone happy is not going to be easy.

For example, Greyserman suggested that there are plenty of players who are not big fans of one of the initiatives the tour has launched in the last couple of years.

“I think he just needs to continue to bring in younger viewership because golf has an older demographic. They’re doing this with the content Creator Classic stuff. I’m more of a traditionalist. I don’t love it, but it seems to bring eyeballs. It seems to complete one of the objectives of the PGA Tour, to grow the PGA and make it a bigger commercial product,” he added.

“We probably don’t think that the Creator Classic is great. We don’t really like it. We don’t know why people watch it, but for whatever reason, they do. And I think that has to do with the younger demographic. People watch [Bryson DeChambeau’s] YouTube, for example. People watch that stuff. So we have to figure out how to bring those people into golf and into watching the PGA Tour without sacrificing the integrity of what the PGA Tour is at the current moment in time.”

LIV is obviously in a strong position itself. With the PIF behind them, they do not necessarily need to be in a rush to start seeing profits. They can play the long game.

But it does seem that people have largely made their mind up about LIV one way or another. It is therefore slightly concerning for the league that they do not appear to have secured a larger audience – particularly with the PGA Tour now waking up to the threat they face.