PGA Tour and Saudi PIF negotiations

On June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the bankroll for LIV golf, signed a “framework agreement” aimed at some sort of merger, the “details” of which were to be ironed out through negotiations. 

It’s now been almost a year and a half and those details still have not been worked out and no unification is forthcoming. In the meantime, the PGA Tour Enterprises, a new title and now for-profit, was created with the help of a $1.5 billion initial investment from Strategic Sports Group.

The battle for control of professional golf began in 2022 when the Saudi PIF backed the upstart LIV golf league, headed by Greg Norman. With virtually unlimited funds, the LIV people basically bought PGA Tour players. LIV golf is concluding its third year of tournaments. Speaking of the ongoing negotiations, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said, “There are a lot of different factors at play, but nobody who is having the conversation is unaware of the complexity.”

None of those conversations have been made public, but one aspect is obvious: PIF seeks to keep team golf, while the PGA Tour hates it. Ron Green, Jr., writing for GlobalGolfPost.com, sees it this way: “It’s the money, the sense of greed, the air of entitlement that has poisoned fans. It has shown in lagging television ratings and a general lethargy toward two sides who seem intent on getting what they want more than giving those paying the freight what they want.”

What is most interesting to  me, in terms of how pro golf has become disrupted, is the background of the roots of LIV golf starting with Greg Norman.  That history has been wonderfully explained by Hughes Norton, who was Tiger Woods’ and Greg Norman’s agent in the 1980’s and ’90’s.

Norton explains in his 2024 tell-all book, “Rainmaker,” that Norman got the idea of a world tour from International Management Group founder Mark McCormack. In 1994 Norman, together with John Montgomery, the Tour’s tournament organizer, pitched the whole idea to the PGA Tour players who were playing the Shark Shootout at the time.  Arnold Palmer, a special invitee, was in the room. At the end of his spiel, Norman says, “I’d be interested in your reaction.” After a pause Arnold stands up and says, “Greg, how many times do you think Jack (Nicklaus) and Gary (Player) and I were approached with this same idea over the years? It didn’t work then, we shot it down, and it’s not going to work this time for me. I’m never going support something that’s bad for the fellas.” Arnold then walked out of the room.

Norton reports that Norman was “famous for holding grudges.” Three decades later, Norman had his chance as Saudi money appeared.

When the “framework agreement” was announced in June 2023, I immediately thought LIV golf was finished and Norman would disappear. I found the whole idea of a 54-hole professional golf tournament anathema, and their slogan, “Pro golf, only louder,” was foul. I said at the time “you can’t buy a golf game, but you sure can buy a golfer,” which is what the Saudi’s did, poaching all the Tour players.

There are plenty of high quality, talented, loyal players on the PGA Tour worth watching. What does worry me is that the PGA Tour/PIF negotiations might result in some diluted compromise, including a LIV format.  It would be like pouring fine wine into old wineskins.  As a game, golf has never been in a better spot. As a professional sport, it has never been more fractured, Green writes.