Money talks and the bosses of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf may have to take note after a key sponsor in the sport demanded peace talks amid the ongoing civil war.
Swiss luxury goods maker, Richemont, has demanded that the PGA and DP World Tours hold talks with LIV to end their bitter rivalry which they fear is threatening the future of the game. The sponsor's chairman Johann Rupert is an influential figure in golf, who has put more than £93million into the sport during a near 40-year association.
South African entrepreneur Rupert is worth £6.7billion and is the driving force behind this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Rupert is also the chairman of the Sunshine Tour and has now had his say on the war of words between golf's governing bodies.
A spokesperson from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with the comments issued by Rupert's media team, told the Daily Telegraph : “There needs to be a cessation of hostilities which are threatening the future of the game we all love. People need to talk to each other to find a solution.”
LIV Golfers are currently allowed to play in DP World Tour events after having their bans overturned while an impending court case is concluded. Members of the Saudi-backed series are indefinitely banned from playing in PGA Tour events.
This weekend's DP World Tour event Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which takes place at St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, includes 16 LIV Golfers on its announced field.
The power of the sponsors is apparent, with Patrick Reed and Peter Uihlein receiving sponsor’s invitations for the Scottish event this week, although the former pulled out yesterday due to a back injury.
“There is a feeling among the players who are loyal to the Tour that LIV players should not be getting special invites,” an unnamed Tour player told Telegraph Sport.
Sponsors face an uphill struggle to get the PGA and LIV Golf to see eye to eye as Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has banned all golfers of the rival series from evens in his series and deemed them ineligible to play in last week’s Presidents Cup, which the Telegraph believe 'riled' Rupert.
Monahan has previously ruled out any peace talks with LIV Golf and said players wanting to return to the American-based circuit will be unable to.
An antitrust lawsuit, filed originally by 11 LIV golfers that the series itself then joined - but with only three players now remaining on the case - has been launched against the PGA Tour with a trial date set for January of 2024.
Monahan previously said: "There is no chance they can return to play on the PGA Tour. They joined the LIV Golf Series, they made their choices and we made ours. With different players we are involved."
Meanwhile, LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman also appears uninterested in peace talks. This week Norman accused the PGA Tour and star Rory McIlroy of 'hypocrisy' for criticising his series and its members.
"The hypocrisy coming out of this is so deafening it’s ridiculous,” he said while on Piers Morgan Uncensored . “The PGA Tour has title sponsors that have a great relationship, a working relationship, for a commercial opportunity with the Saudi Government, with PIF [Saudi Public Investment Fund]."
