Scottie Scheffler: Lack of Clarity Surrounding PGA Tour-PIF Deal ‘Worrisome’
Five weeks after the stunning agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Scottie Scheffler said the top players still don’t have much clarity as to the future of the Tour.
“That’s a bit worrisome,” he said Wednesday ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open. “They keep saying it’s a player-run organization, and we don’t really have the information that we need. I watched part of [Tuesday’s Senate hearing] and didn’t learn anything. So I really don’t know what to say.”
PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne, a member of the Tour policy board and a co-architect of the Tour-PIF deal, said on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the framework agreement with the Saudis – which ended the costly litigation battle between the warring sides – was the best opportunity for the Tour to remain in control of the sport.
But Price and Dunne insisted that there is much work to be done to reach a definitive agreement by the end of the year, and that no final details have been worked out.
That’s the aspect that most troubles Scheffler.
“I think the Tour is working hard to try to get us more information, but it’s tough when you’re in negotiations to make everything public,” he said. “It’s hard to negotiate the public side. I understand the privacy of it, but I just wish that definitely our player reps need to be more involved in the process.”
Assessing player reactions to Senate hearing
The Tour policy board, comprised of five players and five independent directors (former AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson has since resigned), met for several hours a few weeks ago in Detroit. Scheffler is a member of the 16-man Player Advisory Council, which consults and advises with the board and commissioner Jay Monahan, who is set to return from medical leave next week.
“That’s important being a member of the PGA Tour is that our voice is heard,” Scheffler said. “As long as the players directors’ voices are being heard, we are the ones that put them in that position to be there, and we want their voices to be heard, and that was really the only frustration with the original announcement is that none of those four or five guys were involved at all.
“But as far as how things are going now, there’s open lines of communication. We have had numerous discussions with the Tour officials and players as weeks have gone on with stuff, and I feel like we’re going in the right direction.”