With the dust still settling on the news that the PGA Tour has agreed a deal with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) that bankrolls LIV Golf, intrigue over how the two organisations ended up round a table has heightened.
According to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, two of the figures at his side during negotiations where policy board member Jimmy Dunne and its chairman Ed Herlihy. Meanwhile, on the PIF side, governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan appears to have been the main point of contact for the PGA Tour team.
However, according to a report in the Daily Mail, another crucial figure that helped bring the two formerly warring parties to the table is ally of the PIF, English business executive Amanda Staveley.
Staveley was apparently brought in as a peace broker by the Saudis in recent months and travelled to Augusta National for the Masters in April, with progress accelerating in the weeks leading up to the deal being announced.
She has prior experience in a similar role, too, having been pivotal in getting the takeover of English soccer club Newcastle United over the line in 2021. She now serves as a director at the club, while it is chaired by Al-Rumayyan.
Monahan confirmed the involvement of Dunne and Herilhy when speaking to the media outlining the details of the deal, saying: “There were two prominent Policy Board members that sat side by side with me, our chairman Ed Herlihy as well as Jimmy Dunne, and ultimately we got to the point where we finalized everything.”
Monahan also said: “There's been a lot of outreach through people and through intermediaries.” Whether Staveley was one of the those he we was referring to is not clear. However, while the likes of Monahan, Dunne and Herilhy look to have been the key players who thrashed out a deal with Al-Rumayyan, it is reportedly Staveley they have to thank for bringing them together in the first place.
