THE PLAYERS Championship has indubitably led to turning many heads in the community owing to the level of golf being displayed. However, now it appears the event being held at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is garnering attention for a different purpose altogether: the PGA Tour’s Player Directors, including the likes of Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, are being “strongly urged” to meet Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
The Jay Monahan-led circuit had recently entered into a $3 billion deal with Strategic Sports Group. This, of course, led to speculations about LIV and the PGA Tour merging to mellow down. However, now, almost a month later, it seems like the flames have been fanned once more, with the Tour making active efforts to broker an agreement with the Rumayyan-headed fund via a meeting in Florida.
A report was made hours ago stating that a meeting between the PIF chairman and the group of players was on the cards as early as Monday in a private residence at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, soon after the conclusion of THE PLAYERS Championship (on Monday). More details about this, however, are yet to come to light and seem to be closely guarded, with even little clarity on whether the Saudi Fund’s chairman will actually attend or not.
Interestingly, five of the six athletes in the PAC are on the field this week at the ongoing PGA Tour event. What’s more, all of these members including Woods are now serving on the board for PGA TOUR Enterprises, which was recently launched. Even Joe Ogilvie, the liaison to the Player Directors on both boards, is also reportedly planning to arrive in Florida on Sunday for a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Tour headquarters to discuss Enterprise business.
Meanwhile, Monahan was also very optimistic about the whole merger, even after the SSG deal, as he said, “Our negotiations are accelerating as we spend time together.” Moreover, the Tour commissioner revealed last Tuesday how he met with the fund’s chairman along with representatives of the SSG group, all the while painting a hopeful picture for the whole deal.
Interestingly, the framework agreement that is reportedly being worked on would also lead to the PIF becoming a minority investor in the for-profit entity. While some, like Rory McIlroy, were all for this move, not all the players were in agreement. Leading that charge against it was none other than PGA Tour director Jordan Spieth, who recently appeared rather nonchalant about the merger.
“I just think it’s something that is almost not even worth talking about right this second given how timely everything would be to try to get it figured out,” said the American golf pro when asked about the deal with the PIF Fund. Furthermore, alluding to the SSG, he added, “The idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right now without anything else with the option of other investors,” while alluding to the SSG.
