The death rattle has not yet sounded for LIV Golf despite the blockbuster news this past Tuesday that the Saudi Public Investment Fund will be partnering with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
Though the new partnership seems to clear the way for LIV defectors to return and for the Saudi-funded league to dissipate, Sports Illustrated reported Saturday that the league’s leadership has told team captains, including Dustin Johnson, that plans continue for both the rest of this season and 2024.
Nothing has been officially announced, however, and details on what golf will look like after the deal goes through (if indeed it does go through) are not yet clear.
The next LIV tournament is scheduled for June 30 at Real Club Valderrama in Spain, with six more events to follow this season, including Aug. 11-13 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
Though the deal is not a merger, it will be a partnership between the PIF — which funds LIV Golf— the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, will be chairman and current PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will be CEO.
Monahan said Tuesday that he will make a “good faith” effort to see if the team aspect of LIV fits into future plans, while adding that he did not “see a scenario” in which that tour would exist as currently constituted alongside the PGA Tour next year.
LIV commissioner Greg Norman — who was not involved in meetings leading to the agreement — reportedly contradicted that in a meeting with the league’s staff on Wednesday.
“The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue chip companies, TV networks,” Norman said on the call, per Sports Illustrated. “LIV is and will continue to be a stand-alone enterprise. Our business model will not change. We changed history and we’re not going anywhere.”
Exactly what to make of that disconnect is anyone’s guess, and the decision-makers themselves might not know yet, either.
Few people were involved in the agreement — a major factor in the shock level that reverberated throughout golf on Tuesday — and it seems as though a lot of details as to how professional golf will operate have yet to be filled in.
At the moment, though, LIV Golf is at least operating as though it will be a part of whatever comes out of the morass.
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