PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan praised the efforts of President Donald Trump in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, and said that some aspects of LIV Golf could be integrated into the PGA Tour during his annual press conference ahead of the Players Championship.
The PGA Tour’s flagship event tees off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla., with another record $25 million purse and 48 of the top 50-ranked golfers in the world, but the field is still missing stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm who are tied to LIV Golf until a long-awaited deal to reunify the men’s professional sport gets done.
Presidential Update
Last month, Monahan, Trump, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan—the top decision-maker for LIV Golf—met at the White House in an attempt to progress discussions that have been ongoing since the infamous framework agreement (which many thought meant a PGA Tour–LIV merger) was announced on June 6, 2023.
“The talks are real, they’re substantial, and they’re being driven at the top levels of both organizations,” Monahan said Tuesday. “Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator. President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together. He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified. His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.”
Before November’s election, Trump said he could get a PGA Tour–PIF deal done in “the better part of 15 minutes.”
Next month, the week before the Masters, LIV will play the first U.S. event of its 2025 schedule in Miami at Trump National Doral—where the tour has played each of its first three seasons, and where the PGA Tour used to have a long-standing tournament until 2016.
Monahan said there is not another meeting with Trump and Al-Rumayyan currently scheduled, and that no concrete deadline for a deal has been established.
Long LIV Golf?
LIV looks and feels very different than PGA Tour golf (although its shorts policy is changing). Tournaments last three days and 54 holes, not four and 72, and players compete individually as opposed to in teams of four.
It’s unclear whether LIV will no longer exist after a PGA Tour–PIF deal, but Monahan indicated some of the rival league’s most notable features may live on. “We believe there’s room to integrate important aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour platform,” he said. “We’re doing everything that we can to bring the two sides together. That said, we will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform.”
Monahan was asked multiple follow-ups about what parts of LIV could be integrated into the PGA Tour, but he declined to provide further details.
