For at least some of last week, it appeared that an announcement of a deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF was imminent with all sides seemingly determined to finally push an agreement across the line.
Certainly, the noises surrounding the talks between the PGA Tour and the owners of LIV Golf have become much more positive in recent weeks. Tiger Woods suggested a deal could come soon, with the best players set to have an opportunity to face off much more regularly again.
That was followed by reports that LIV players could feature at the Players Championship in March – despite LIV having its own event in Singapore that week.
Smylie Kaufman noted that NBC were prepared to cut away from the Mexico Open to bring news of a deal as the PGA Tour, Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on Thursday.
What has been misunderstood about talks between the PGA Tour and the PIF
Unfortunately for those hoping to see an agreement, talks reportedly did not go as positively as some had hoped. And it seems that there is plenty of work still to be done.
Speaking on The Smylie Show, Gabby Herzig noted that the removal of some hurdles following Trump’s election has actually seen other issues emerge.
“I think the biggest thing for me that is maybe misunderstood is that difference in strategy now that Trump is in office, with protecting or preventing the DOJ from trying to block the deal by maintaining the separation between two tours. And now them being across that hurdle and hump in all of this and I hate to be a pessimist here, but it’s almost like they are starting from ground zero because this just wasn’t a possibility for so long,” she said.
“And it’s like were they even prepared for this not to be a possibility? It seems like there was a new optimism in the hope of creating one tour and now it’s like how do we actually do that? Is anyone going to agree on how to do that?”
What Yasir Al-Rumayyan has promised LIV players behind the scenes
The problem is that golf fans have been debating what the golfing landscape was going to look like for almost two years, with the framework agreement being signed in June 2023.
And yet, those in charge of the game seemingly had little planned – or felt that the other side would make all of the compromises. But clearly, neither the PGA Tour or LIV Golf is likely to be going anywhere.
Herzig also confirmed that Al-Rumayyan has promised LIV players that team golf will feature in the game’s future. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour’s stance on changing anything became largely evident once it emerged that they rejected the chance to have the PIF invest in the first place.
Finding some middle ground is proving to be a lot more difficult than many expected. And with that, it seems that it could still be some time before the stalemate comes to an end.
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