At one stage in recent weeks, it seemed that a deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF was so close to getting done that there may be some LIV Golf stars who feature at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Golf fans will have certainly grown tired of waiting for an agreement between the PGA Tour and the owners of LIV Golf. We are rapidly approaching two years since the framework agreement left the golfing world stunned, and there has been little update since then.
But things seemed to reach another gear in recent months. The PGA Tour and the PIF were involved in talks with President Donald Trump at the White House.
And reports emerged claiming that some LIV Golf stars could be involved at the Players Championship – despite the league having their own event in Singapore this week.
Why SSG may not be happy with Rory McIlroy’s comments about a deal between the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf
However, talks apparently did not go as well as expected. And it was interesting to hear Rory McIlroy claim ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week that the PGA Tour does not necessarily need a deal with LIV. It certainly appeared to be another slight change of stance from the Northern Irishman.
And perhaps some of those who have invested in the tour may not be best pleased with McIlroy’s comments. Speaking to Bob Harig on the Inside Golf Podcast, Andy Lack explained why a deal is particularly important to those higher up on the PGA Tour.
“The other thing I would add here, Bob, is I’ve spoken to people at the Strategic Sports Group – everybody at the Strategic Sports Group made that investment expecting to partner with the PIF. The Strategic Sports Group guys, those hedge fund guys, like Marc Lasry and John Henry and all those guys, they invested that $3 billion expecting for the PIF to also invest money in the PGA Tour’s product,” he said.
“What’s so crazy about this is the way that Rory is talking right now, he’s acting like now that they have the SSG money, they’re good, when all of the people at the Strategic Sports Group that made that investment all did that because they were expecting a deal to happen.”
Why Rory McIlroy may have claimed the PGA Tour does not need a deal
Of course, McIlroy has been stronger than anyone when it comes to committing to the PGA Tour over the years. He has been prepared to make comments which have landed him in trouble at times, but he has done so because he has obviously felt that the tour has come under real threat.
So perhaps there is a chance that the 35-year-old is simply attempting to publicly make a point that the PGA Tour does not need to bend over backwards to get a deal done.
One of the biggest issues the two sides seem to be having is deciding how the golfing landscape is going to look once the civil war has come to an end. Compromise will be needed on both sides.
But perhaps McIlroy wants to make it clear that the PGA Tour is not the side which needs to make the greater sacrifices.
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