The primary issues preventing a contract between the PGA Tour and Saudi investors in the competing LIV Golf circuit are the U.S. Department of Justice as well as divergent opinions from players on each side, according to Rory Mcllroy.
As a member of a ‘transaction committee’ involved in direct talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the four-time major winner observed that the participants differed over the best course of action.
He also felt the U.S. Justice Department, which previously said that it would look into the deal to determine whether it violates antitrust law, was another factor that was delaying the negotiations.
Mcllroy admitted: “I’d say maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done; half probably don’t. I’d say it’s probably similar on the PGA Tour…Because just like anything, everyone’s looking out for themselves and their best interests. You know, it would benefit some people for a deal not to get done, but it would obviously benefit some people for a deal to get done.”
In June 2023, the DP World Tour, PIF, and PGA Tour announced a framework agreement to consolidate all their commercial operations under a for-profit organization.
The unusual partnership that had taken the golf world by surprise—the framework agreement—expired at the end of 2023, but the parties kept meeting to work out the specifics of a contract.
Despite the obstacles McIlroy felt there was cause for hope when the two sides met again last week in New York to continue discussing methods to bring the sport together. He said: “To me it seems like the people that are really making the decisions are all rowing in the same direction, which is a really good thing… And even if they are all rowing in the same direction, it still doesn’t mean that a deal may get done because it’s just a very complicated set of circumstances.”
Source: CNA