LIV Golf's Future Still Unclear Despite Actions and Words to the Contrary

The framework agreement says the PGA Tour controls the future of the sport, which one would think means LIV's time is limited. But the league's message this week was 'full speed ahead.'

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A month removed from the stunning announcement that the PGA Tour had reached a “framework agreement’’ with the DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, there are—perhaps—two things we know about the efforts to see peace in the professional game.

1. The PGA Tour will remain as we know it, a member-based non-profit 501(c)(6) that operates the way it has for years, with a full schedule of events culminating with the FedEx Cup playoffs.

2. The PGA Tour in conjunction with the DP World Tour and the PIF will be part a for-profit entity that for now is being called PGA Tour Enterprises. Valuations of all the entities, including LIV Golf, are part of the process and PIF will be an investor, with the PGA Tour holding a majority of board seats and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan serving as chairman.

Beyond that?

It’s going to likely to take weeks or months to sort out.

And part of the process—the future of LIV Golf—has virtually no clarity.

The PGA Tour says—and the framework agreement states—that the PGA Tour controls the future of men’s golf.

But in Spain, LIV golfers competing in the LIV Golf Andalucia event at Valderrama met with Al-Rumayyan, who told them it’s business as usual.

According to Tyler Dennis, president of the PGA Tour, he is confident that all the parties, including Al-Rumayyan, are in agreement with the structure outlined and that the PGA Tour is the "clear leader" of the new structure.

“Absolutely,” Dennis told Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “And we wouldn’t move forward without that. They understand that. As our players start to understand that, they start feeling better about the transaction. And that’s very clear that the PGA Tour will be in charge.”

The agreement said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has the power to determine the future of LIV Golf after a "good faith" evaluation. How it might look—if at all—remains a source of considerable debate.

Al-Rumayyan met with several players, commissioner Greg Norman and LIV officials on Thursday following the pro-am. His message was that LIV was not going anywhere.

"Obviously LIV is full steam ahead," Dustin Johnson said after the meeting, while also pushing back on the idea that the Tour would decide.

"It was all stuff that I assumed but just to hear it from His Excellency (Al-Rumayyan) obviously just makes me a lot more confident and is what I thought, but just gives me that much more confidence in where we’re going and what we’re doing," Johnson said. "I think LIV’s in a great spot right now, and it’s only gonna get better."

LIV Golf has taken other actions that make it appear that it is business as usual.

It announced a multi-year agreement that is believed to be three years with Valderama to continue to host a tournament in Spain, as it did this year.

One of its teams, the Majesticks, has signed a multi-year deal with crypto exchange company OKX.

And last week LIV Golf announced an impact and sustainability strategy that includes a variety of programs such as LIV to Learn, LIV Green, Transform the Game and The Way We LIV—with the idea of creating social impact through golf.

It seems like a lot of trouble to go through if it’s all going to be shut down or reimagined.

"The best thing we could do is try to work something out together, may not be merged, but it could be parallel lines," DeChambeau said. "At this point, instead of trying to combat each other we’re moving in parallel lines. And that's really the consensus of it. We were trying to figure out, obviously, if it [LIV] was going to continue and [Al-Rumayyan's] wholehearted belief is if he's alive, it's still moving forward in the right direction."