Davis Love III thinks anyone hoping for a quick resolution in the deal being worked on between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) behind LIV Golf will be disappointed.
The 2022 US Presidents Cup captain, who sits on the PGA Tour’s Policy Board, gave his opinion on the discussions in Florida while meeting on a golf course project. Per Adam Schupak at Golfweek, the 21-time PGA Tour winner said: “The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast.”
Discussions on the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF are due to conclude by the end of the year, but Love was not optimistic on the chances of that deadline being met, saying: “I don’t see any way.”
He also revealed that there are many areas to thrash out if a deal is to be agreed. He continued: “It’s so much deeper than should (LIV) be getting world ranking points. There’s a whole lot I don’t know but I do know there is nothing going on right now besides where do we want to go?
“We might have screwed up the last three years, now how do we set up the PGA Tour for the future? Is there a different model? We’re independent contractors, maybe we’re not independent contractors? The lawsuits are dropped; now what do we want to do, what does (the PIF) want to do? Do they really want to keep blowing that much money on LIV? Probably not.”
Love also suggested negotiations may have been slowed by a reluctance on the part of the PIF to negotiate.
"It’s just like the lawsuit: we’re never going to go to trial if they don’t ever do discovery. Our staff and players did discovery. They refused,” said Love. “We made an offer and if you don’t ever communicate, we can’t make another offer. It’s bizarre what’s going on. It’s a long way from anything. The sharks are circling. Now everyone wants to invest in the PGA Tour.”
On that subject, Love explained the PGA Tour is in an excellent place to negotiate. He said: “We don’t need money, that’s the beautiful thing. One very smart business person said, ‘You may think you’re in a mess but I buy distressed companies and try to fix them to make money. Your company isn’t in trouble, you make a lot of money. It’s perfectly fine the way it is. All you’re trying to do is make it better. You’re in a great position.’”
Not surprisingly, the PGA Tour veteran has been happy to stand up for the Tour since LIV Golf came along, and even suggested last year that PGA Tour players could boycott the Majors if stars from the newer circuit appeared. That didn’t happen, but Love explained that he didn’t hold anything against those who signed for LIV Golf.
He continued: “I told some of them this in the very beginning. I’m not against you as a person, I’m against what’s happening and I think you’re making a bad business decision.
“Jay [PGA Tour commissioner Monahan] tried to explain it to these guys, you are signing with our competitor and giving our competitor leverage that is going to hurt our ability to make decisions and hurt our financial position. You don’t really understand that it is not just playing in this golf tournament versus that one.
“I’m still against the fact that this is a hostile takeover. These guys signed with a company that is trying to take us over. If a bunch of guys left Pepsi and went over to Coke and tried to take over Pepsi would you ever let them come back to Pepsi? I don’t think so. It may not be a perfect comparison but they sued us to make us change our rules so they could get what they wanted.”
'I'm Just Glad He's Doing It'
Love also talked about the structure of the PGA Tour's Policy Board and speculated on the reason for Tiger Woods' involvement as a Player Director on it.
The 58-year-old said: “How do we restructure the board – we need a new independent director – that has to happen first. Then we can go decide if there’s a deal somewhere.”
On Woods' appointment to the board, he said: "One is his injury and not playing right now but also helping a bunch of players get more involved, he loves that. Maybe he sees it as a responsibility and maybe he sees it as an opportunity, I don’t know. I’m just glad he’s doing it.”
