Two hundred seventy-four days have passed since PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia sat side-by-side on CNBC and announced a landmark “framework agreement” that was to be the basis of a new cooperation between the two groups.
That new cooperation now seems like a pipe dream as the PGA Tour has its newly found billions and the PIF has continued to grab marquee players like Masters champion Jon Rahm, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton and DP World Tour Player of the Year Adrian Meronk.
Now LIV CEO Greg Norman is throwing another rock at golf’s glass house by dropping LIV’s Official World Golf Ranking application because, as he wrote in a letter to his players, OWGR “has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”
It had become clear to LIV hierarchy that any concession the OWGR offered would not accurately determine LIV players' position in the rankings or adequately value their performance against players on other Tours.
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Norman's letter may seem a bit tepid, but it's ultimately a covert statement that Al-Rumayyan is not interested in standing pat until LIV and its players are respected for what they have accomplished and continue to accomplish for the game of golf.
And LIV is preparing to exist for the long haul.
DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said in an interview with the Times of London that he's convinced the game will at some point will be unified, but the timeframe is extremely fluid.
“Whether it be in six months, a year, two years or 10 years, I think people are coming to the realization that a collective product is in the best interest of global golf,” Pelley said. “It is the only way growth and prize funds continue at this level. It is inevitable.”
Since the PGA Tour announced its $3 billion deal with the Strategic Sport Group, the ball has been in the PIF and LIV’s court.
Except when you oversee a $750 billion fund, as Al-Rumayyan does, you have little need for acquiescence and can wait almost anyone out in order to get the terms you want.
So as the PGA Tour Policy Board believes its deal puts them is a superior position, it does little to facilitate a deal with LIV.
At the same time, the PIF is emboldened in the belief that the deals for Rahm, Hatton and Meronk represent a clear path to others, be it Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland or other “name” players—and those potential future signees could be the straw that breaks the PGA Tour’s back.
“There’s been a lot of tension in our sport over the last couple of years,” Monahan said on June 6. “But what we’re talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf. And to do so under one umbrella.”
Clearly Monahan was a little over his skis as nothing has shown the possibility of an agreement being anywhere near close.
Yet with each side feeling good about its position, why would either take the plunge?
Near the end of Norman’s letter, he said that LIV continues to seek meaningful communication and relationships with each of the Majors to ensure that LIV golfers are adequately represented.
With LIV’s Joaquin Niemann receiving exemptions into the Masters and the PGA Championship, it seems the majors’ dam may be developing a few fissures. Its officials are seeing the need to bring LIV into the fold, albeit slowly.
And note that Norman didn’t reference the PGA Tour when talking about meaningful communications.
Players that jumped to LIV are not interested in rejoining the PGA Tour and while they may want to make a one-off appearance at the Memorial or Riviera, they are happy with the professional life they picked in joining LIV.
One of the mistakes players on the PGA Tour make is thinking those former members are itching to come back. They are not, so instead of thinking of the fines and penalties that should be imposed upon a return, maybe Tour players should value LIV players' games and how they could prop up the mediocre fields in non-signature events.
So now we wait. No movement appears imminent, but Monahan will be grilled at next week's Players Championship about LIV and the framework agreement's progress.
Then next month, the season's first major will commence in Augusta, where last year's leaderboard had a significant LIV presence and the winner later joined them.
A Masters win by a current LIV player will force the other majors to figure out what to do with the 54-hole league, perhaps speeding up LIV's acceptance.
It’s that acceptance that LIV craves and if it comes to fruition, the possibility of a PGA Tour deal will seem even farther away than it already does.
