Perhaps this is a sign there is hope, that the glacial pace of negotiations might actually be more a fast walk than a slow shuffle, that the rhetoric is just that and a thawing of frozen views is emerging.
More likely, the one-day match between four of golf’s biggest names is a matter of the players involved stepping up to give fans what they want, sending a signal to the suits doing the behind-the-scenes talking that maybe this has gone on long enough.
The news dropped Wednesday that PGA Tour stars Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will take on LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in a one-day made-for-TV match to be played in Las Vegas in December.
Seems harmless enough, and undoubtedly the zealots on each side of the divide will make it into a “PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf” grudge encounter, even though such a competition will ultimately prove nothing and be more for bragging rights.
Still, it is a significant development in a world where these players, otherwise, would be unlikely to compete against one another again until the Masters.
That—ultimately—has been what fans care about. Seeing the best together more often when they’ve been divided due to the start of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour’s reaction to it and the subsequent “framework agreement” that is now 15 months in process with no end in sight.
It is instructive that McIlroy, once a staunch critic of LIV Golf who has since mellowed in his stance and sought to get a deal done, confirmed the parameters of the competition to Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch, leaving no room for conjecture about various sources and where the information might be coming from.
As a PGA Tour member who has signed over his media rights to the Tour—just as Scheffler has also done—such an arrangement has to be approved by the Tour, even if there is no conflicting event to worry about. That is unlikely to be a problem, but this appears to have been orchestrated to make sure there is no interference.
It would look terrible now if the Tour tried to prevent this from happening for some reason.
It was McIlroy last week in Atlanta who again expressed concern over the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which funds LIV Golf.
A day after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan again described negotiations as “complicated” while offering no timetable for a resolution, McIlroy was asked his take after the first round of the Tour Championship.
“I think anyone that cares about golf, I think has to be frustrated,” McIlroy said. “I think anyone (who) cares about the PGA Tour has to be frustrated because ... we're not putting forward the absolute best product that we can.
“I get the argument that these guys (who went to the LIV Golf League) left and that was their choice and whatever.
“I just think that it's gone on long enough. We've got to try to ... I mean, I think everyone is trying to find a solution. It's just a solution is hard to get to.”
There’s a good bit to unpack there, including the reference to the LIV players who were paid huge sums. The insinuation was there’s resistance to their returning in some way to the PGA Tour, however that may be worked out.
Obviously compromise is a big part of this. If there is some sort of integration of players, both sides will need to give. Maybe it can’t be as many opportunities as LIV players want, but it has to be more than the PGA side is willing to produce. And is there some requirement for PGA Tour players to play in LIV events?
It’s impossible to know where any of this stands, but clearly the issues are numerous, and that’s not even taking into consideration all the various financial matters that might be involved with a sovereign wealth fund investing in an American company, the possible Department of Justice scrutiny and then putting it all together.
McIlroy has a keen sense of what is going on. He’s been on the PGA Tour Policy Board; he’s now a member of the “transaction subcommittee” that is said to be negotiating directly with the PIF. He’s spoken directly with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the golf-loving director of the PIF who appeared with Monahan in the shocking CNBC interview way back in June 2023, saying he felt the deal would take a matter of weeks.
And here we are.
What happens next?
“I think if it doesn't happen soon, then honestly, I think PIF and the Saudis are going to have to look at alternative options, right? I think that's probably the—I'd say that's the next step in all this if something doesn't get done,” McIlroy said.
Asked afterward what that could entail, McIlroy said “there are other tours in which they could invest.”
He then added: “But then it keeps the game divided.”
And so this “match” is a small way to bring the game back together, even if it’s only for a day, in a non-consequential exhibition that might have far more long-term meaning than the results on the course.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as With Their Upcoming Match, Rory McIlroy and LIV Golf's Stars Are Sending a Message.
