Nine Months After the Framework Agreement, PGA Tour Players Finally Talking to Saudi Arabia's PIF

The player directors on the Tour Policy Board have much to learn, Bob Harig writes, as unification still appears far from guaranteed.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour players sought and received more power in the aftermath of the stunning June 6 “framework agreement” with the idea that there would no longer be any surprise announcements without their input.

Tiger Woods was added to the PGA Tour Policy Board, another player seat was created to have six members, and negotiations continued—or so we thought—with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), which backs LIV Golf.

Along the way, the Tour entered into a billion-dollar-plus agreement with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of wealthy team sports owners and the Fenway Sports Group, to help fund the new for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. That was one step in an ongoing process.

But since that announcement in January, there continues to be debate over whether or not a deal with the PIF—and, in theory, unification—will occur.

Peter Malnati and his fellow players on the PGA Tour Policy Board have a lot of questions and may start to get answers Monday / Imago

In recent weeks, board members such as Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson and Adam Scott have been asked if they’ve had any dealings directly with the PIF as this has played out. And while it’s no shock that they might not have dealt with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, it is somewhat surprising that there have been no dealings with lower-level PIF personnel.

Clearly the heavy lifting for this deal would need to get done by the various in-the-trenches people on both sides. But if you’re trying to learn how this might work, what the PIF wants, and you’re going to have a final say in the outcome … doesn’t that suggest some direct conversations with the people who are on the other side? Nine months later?

“We’ve got to understand that better as a membership,” said player director and one-time winner Peter Malnati, 36, after the third round of the Players Championship. “Like, what is our stance? At first, for me, like the announcement of June 6, I felt massive resistance to that personally. As I’ve learned more, I think I understand better and I’m very open-minded to learning what involvement they want, what they want out of this and how they think they can help. I’m very open-minded to that now. I think there are players who have resistance to that relationship, for sure. So that’s why I do think it’s important that maybe our next step is to meet at some point.”

A meeting was to take place Monday with player directors “highly encouraged” to attend. Cantlay on Sunday confirmed it. Malnati was unaware of such a meeting Saturday when he spoke to reporters but seemed anxious to have one. Others suggested the same thing.

Still, it is surprising at this point that there seems to be only vague knowledge of LIV Golf, what it is doing and what a possible alliance might mean. When asked what he thought about team golf—which is LIV Golf’s business model—Malnati was all over the place.

“I need to understand better what Yasir is really trying to accomplish there,” he said. “Obviously the greatest team event in golf right now is the Ryder Cup, and it’s incredible. What they’re doing ... it seems like a very forced team model, to me. At the end of the day, are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? That seems so contrived to me.

“And so I feel like we could also create some contrived team golf somewhere outside of the FedEx Cup season, but what does he really want is a question that I want to understand better. Because I don’t think it’s some contrived, fake, add up random guys’ scores and call them a team. I don’t think that’s it.”

There is a good bit to unpack there. It’s true that nobody really knows what Al-Rumayyan wants. Does he want the team concept as part of the PGA Tour Enterprises? Would there be more fluidity among the teams? Would there be fewer events and LIV players in other events outside of LIV? Is he just interested in a seat at the table and being part of the larger ecosystem?

Whatever the desire, clearly those are the talks that should have already been occurring.

And say what you want about LIV’s team format—it has been panned in many circles—it is the league’s business model. The captains have all been given equity shares in their teams. The idea is to sell them as franchises, which would become a revenue source for LIV Golf, PGA Tour Enterprises or both. Malnati seemed blissfully unaware of any of that.

He also addressed the issue of LIV players competing again in PGA Tour events. They are currently barred from doing so, and conjecture around unifying the game suggests there needs to be a way back. And that has all manner of views.

“That might be the thing that’s most top of mind for people,” Malnati said. “You would find opinions that ran the gamut, from guys that just have a line in the sand that say never, and ... Rory’s (McIlroy) been pretty outspoken that he wants to see the best players playing on the PGA Tour. So we’re going to have to net out somewhere in the middle.

“I think the easiest, most likely route we go when we do find a way for guys to come back, is just guys aren’t coming back to the PGA Tour with membership on the PGA Tour. They’re coming back to the PGA Tour as guys that are going to have to earn their way back here. I think there’s certain methods that we’ve been able to establish and put in place that will be really, really good for the PGA Tour and its membership, and our fans too.

“This player equity plan, I don’t understand it, it’s a little bit above my head, but I certainly know enough to say that I really do support it. It’s going to make players owners of the Tour, and guys who violated our policies aren’t ever going to be eligible for that. That’s a big deal. So I think, if we do find a pathway for guys to come back, there will certainly be safeguards in place to protect the members of the Tour who stayed here.”

The teams and a way back for LIV players are just two of the myriad issues that need to be worked out if there is to be a deal. And yet, several of the players on the PGA Tour side who will be involved and ultimately approving any kind of deal have plenty to learn.