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The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ending the year the same way they began it: in limbo.
As the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, 2023, a self-imposed deadline had officially been missed by the PGA Tour and LIV’s financial backers at the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia to reach a definitive agreement around a deal to unify men’s professional golf.
That deadline had been set in June 2023 after the PGA Tour and PIF announced the now infamous framework agreement to end the battle with LIV. And while some reports indicate a deal is getting close (and could be finalized after President-elect Donald Trump takes office), 2024 is still set to end with no official peace pact.
2024 began with more questions than answers about the future of golf: Were the PGA Tour and LIV going to merge? When would LIV players be allowed back on the Tour? Would those defectors be penalized? Would loyal PGA Tour players be compensated?
Some of those questions have been at least partially resolved over the past 12 months.
In late January, the PGA Tour received a $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group—a newly-formed consortium of U.S. professional sports team owners. SSG took equity in PGA Tour Enterprises, a new for-profit entity that will likely ultimately be the PIF’s investment vehicle that the PIF if a deal is reached.
An initial $930 million of equity was earmarked for PGA Tour players, in part to pay them back for turning down eight- and nine-figure offers from LIV.
And LIV, which lured two-time major champion Jon Rahm in December 2023, was still poaching other PGA Tour players. Also in January, Englishman Tyrell Hatton, then ranked No. 16 in the world, headlined a list of players making the jump to LIV.
In February, LIV held its first U.S. tournament of 2024 in Las Vegas on the same weekend as Super Bowl LVIII—a feat the PGA Tour has successfully pulled off when the rowdy WM Open coincides with a Super Bowl in Phoenix. It was clear LIV still had its eye on making a big splash, especially in the U.S. market.
There were whispers about a potential ending to the PGA Tour–PIF saga around the Masters in April. But that idea was snuffed at The Players Championship in March, when PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan kicked the timeline further down the road—hoping to have more clarity by the season-ending Tour Championship in August.
As we know now, that wasn’t the case. The PGA Tour’s 2024 season concluded with no deadline in place for the ongoing PIF deal talks.But over the summer, Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open victory made him the second active LIV player to win a major championship (alongside Brooks Koepka’s 2023 PGA Championship win). It was further evidence that LIV players could still perform on the sport’s biggest stages, despite playing the majority of their golf at shortened three-day, no-cut tournaments.
LIV players were once again barred from competing in the PGA Tour-operated Presidents Cup (U.S. vs. non-European international teams) in September. And LIV’s impact on both the U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams remained a major discussion point for both squads as they started to gear up for the September 2025 event just outside New York City.
Earlier this month, LIV’s DeChambeau and Koepka faced the PGA Tour’s Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in a special made-for-TV event that sought to play up the rivalry between the two tours. However, neither the PGA Tour nor LIV was an organizer of the event. McIlroy and Scheffler won $10 million in cryptocurrency.
In recent weeks, perhaps in preparation for imminent collaboration, both tours have shuffled personnel at the executive level.
Greg Norman confirmed he will soon be replaced as CEO of LIV Golf, with multiple reports suggesting former 76ers and Devils executive Scott O’Neil is being tabbed as the controversial tour’s new leader. LIV has not made any official announcement on a move.
The PGA Tour launched a search to hire a CEO, a new position that will work closely with Monahan and the investors from SSG. The CEO could be influential in working with the PIF, too, should they ultimately invest.
In a way, those pending moves epitomize the limbo of 2024: We know change is coming; we just don’t know when or what it will look like.
One thing is certain, though. In January, the PGA Tour will open its season like it always does in Maui, while LIV will begin its season in February in Saudi Arabia (its full schedule is still yet to be released). The league has yet to officially find a new U.S. TV partner, too, although a deal is almost done with Fox to replace The CW.
At this time 12 months ago, most people assumed 2024 would be the year for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to work out their differences. Will that finally be the case in 2025, or will we all be back here in the same spot next December?
