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The PGA Tour season is rolling on at the Waste Management Phoenix Open this week. A Super Bowl week tradition, the fans are out and about in Arizona. Meanwhile, tour executives are still hammering out the deal that is supposed to bring the golf world together. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, payer director Adam Scott, and President Donald Trump met on Tuesday to discuss the deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, or PIF.
“We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the Public Investment Fund and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf,” a tour statement read. “We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved.”
The statement ends, “We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf.”
In June of 2022, the PGA Tour and the PIF, which operates LIV Golf, agreed to a Framework Agreement to bring the golf world together. But the actual negotiations have not gone to plan. Even when the Saudis agreed in December to invest over $1 billion into the Tour, it did not end the process because of the Department of Justice.
Where do the PGA Tour and LIV Golf go from here?
Once the framework agreement was announced, the United States government took a keen interest in the deal. Some officials believe that the PGA Tour is creating a monopoly by absorbing LIV Golf in this deal. Monahan saying on television that the deal was “taking a competitor off the board” certainly did not help.
The future of golf lies in the hands of the President and the people he appoints to important positions. This is the first piece of golf news to come from Donald Trump's second term and it could lead to a deal sooner than if he did not win. He is a known golfer and owns multiple clubs around the world so he could see this as helping a sport he enjoys and has a financial stake in. Trump did play golf with Monahan before the inauguration to discuss the deal.
But the professional golf world has not been friendly with Trump in his political era. The PGA of America took away the PGA Championship from his course in Bedminster, New Jersey after the January 6 insurrection. He has been seen at LIV events and they have held tournaments at his courses.
