The PGA Tour Will Not Prevent Its Players From Competing in LIV Golf Qualifier
The PGA Tour has less than two months left to consummate a final agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the owner of LIV Golf, if they follow the terms of the "framework agreement" made public on June 6.
The deadline can be extended but if that will happen is unclear. In the meantime, the Tour is taking an unusual step in presenting an olive branch of sorts by not banning players that participate in the LIV Golf Promotions event in December in Abu Dhabi.
By not considering the event an “unauthorized tournament,” which would require the Tour to ban all players from participating in future PGA Tour events, the Tour is letting the competitors continue to play in Tour-sanctioned events, presumably if they don’t join LIV.
“Based on the information publicly available regarding the LIV Golf Promotion event; it is determined to be a qualifying event only and not a part of an unauthorized series,” a PGA Tour spokesman told Sports Illustrated. “Therefore, the LIV Golf Promotion event is not categorized as an 'unauthorized tournament.' This classification is subject to change should the details of the event change.”
LIV Golf's inaugural Promotions event in December will award three spots in the league for 2024.
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LIV announced the particulars of the promotions event last month; it will include four rounds of golf over three days including 36 holes on the final day. The top three finishers will receive 2024 LIV memberships and receive $200,000, $150,000 and $100,000 from a total purse of $1.5 million.
On June 9, 2022, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspended 17 former PGA Tour players because they played in LIV’s first event in London.
In a memo to Tour members, Monahan stated that “the players are being notified that they are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup. This also applies to all tours sanctioned by the PGA Tour: the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica.”
Since then, no former PGA Tour player now with LIV has participated in any sanctioned PGA Tour event or the Presidents Cup.
The decision by the Tour to not consider the LIV Golf Promotions event an "unauthorized tournament” may signal that the ongoing negotiations between the PIF, PGA Tour and DP World Tour around may be progressing.
Or it could be just an innocuous decision that the PGA Tour is making, not finding it necessary to bar players from competing while it talks to LIV's funders about a significant future partnership.
According to a spokesperson, the DP World Tour has not decided on how it will handle players that participate in the promotions event and is still discussing the matter internally.