By Jimmy Roberts
On February 19th, President Trump convened a meeting at the White House in pursuit of untangling the messy knot that professional golf has become. Tiger Woods was there. So too was PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who holds the reigns of LIV via the Saudi Public Investment fund. There seemed to be a lot of optimism at the end of the day.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
It’s entirely possible that by the time you read this, there will be peace in the world of golf … which is to say that the PGA Tour and LIV will have come to an agreement that allows for the two tours to play together beyond just the majors, if not nicely … at least just play.
This, of course would be vastly different from just saying there is an agreement, which is the world we’ve been living in since June 6, 2023, when a “framework agreement” was announced.
Sadly though, in that regard, professional golf today looks no different than it did a year and a half ago. OMG – they finished rebuilding LaGuardia in less time!
“They’re not rushing this are they?” asks Brad Faxon, who won eight times on the PGA Tour and works these days as an analyst for NBC Sports.
What the holdup is isn’t exactly certain … or it depends on who you ask.
I’ve resisted writing about the entire subject in this space, mostly because it’s just so complicated. There’s no bite-sized wisdom that can easily ford or explain the rocky divide. People are passionate on both sides of the issue, but one thing is certain: the loser has been professional golf. That’s kind of ironic because the game, as a participatory sport has never been healthier; the pandemic lit a fuse in its appeal that launched it into orbit.
But the professional game? What a thorough mess.
I know we all hope so.
I won’t bore you with a chronology of how we got here, or a chapter and verse recitation of the details. Instead, let me just distill it down to what I’ve been thinking has got to be the central issue: an influential and vocal posse of PGA Tour players who just cannot wrap their heads around allowing the infidels – now considerably richer infidels – to painlessly come back and be part of an organization that they abandoned.
“Without a doubt,” says Faxon, a man who served three terms on the PGA Tour’s policy board and once on the board for the PGA Tour Champions. “I think that’s the biggest issue.”
There’s been talk of penalties and or punishment, but one of the problems is how difficult it is to make this a ‘one size fits all’ solution: I guess we’ll take Rahm, but why should we take _____ (fill in any LIV player who took the money, but is not among the game’s glitterati.)
“You’re going to have the finger pointing part of it,” Faxon says, “which is impossible to get beyond.”
For a window into the depth of how corrosive the situation has become, there’s a particularly juicy rumor going around that some of those now in control of the PGA Tour board are blocking board participation from anyone who’s a member of a certain golf club where former board members hold sway. I’m not going to mention the club, but if you know the people involved in this drama, you can probably figure it out.
Good god. What is this, kindergarten?
There’s a good deal of messiness too in that so many professional sports teams have resisted involvement with Saudi Arabia and its money, and some of those from the world of professional sports team ownership now sit in positions of influence as private equity investors of the PGA Tour.
Oy. Like I said, complicated.
But even before the recent meeting between Trump and the warring parties, Woods, who sits on the policy board, was optimistic.
Again, I hope so, because enough is enough. It’s time to get this thing figured out. I think I speak on behalf of a lot of people who really love this game: Let’s go. You’re not only killing yourselves, but as fans … our patience is wearing thin.