The 'framework agreement' dead before 3
This is not where the game expected to be after June 6, 2023, détente between rivals
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour commish Jay Monahan shock the world in 2023 (Courtesy CNBC)
We are now three years removed from professional golf’s version of D-Day, not exactly an anniversary being celebrated by anyone but one that is reminder of where the game went, how it proceeded and the unanswered questions it has left.
Remember June 6, 2023? Just about anyone involved in the game and those who watch it closely were bulldozed at the news that after a year-plus of strife, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were “merging.”
That was the original, erroneous way it was reported — and often still is — later changed to “an alliance” between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour called the “framework agreement” that would see the entities negotiate a way for all parties to co-exist.
It is hard today to describe exactly the level of shock and awe at the sight of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan appearing along side PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan on CNBC in New York on that Tuesday morning to announce the deal. Not to mention the days and weeks of fallout.
Monahan had to endure the ire of many of his PGA Tour constituents, who were enraged that such a landmark deal was negotiated for weeks without their knowledge.
Eventually, the PGA Tour changed its board structure, Tiger Woods was appointed to the policy board in an unprecedented maneuver and all manner of twists and turns occurred over the ensuing three years.
Lawsuits were dropped, but LIV Golf later heightened the pressure when it signed two-time major champion Jon Rahm — who had won the Masters earlier in 2023 — to a lucrative deal.
Numerous ideas were floated as to how the sides could mutually exist, and the expectation was that the PIF — Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund — would invest a sizeable amount in the newly-created PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit arm of the PGA Tour. And that Al-Rumayyan would get a board seat.
But the sides never did reach agreement. The PGA Tour got a $1.5 billion investment in early 2024 from the Strategic Sports Group. LIV Golf pushed on with its schedule and showed no signs of slowing down, backed by a nearly $1 trillion fund that made its mounting losses on LIV look like pennies.
Early in 2025, there was hope for a deal. The sides seemed poised to make one at a White House meeting where President Trump was involved. But it never happened and actually died on the vine immediately after the meeting. How close they actually got and what scuttled it has never been made clear.
