Davis Love III says LIV Golf needs to say ‘we give,’ in order for talks with PGA Tour

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Tuesday in Dubai, Rory McIlroy suggested that LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman should “exit stage left” to make room for an “adult” to work things out with the PGA Tour. A day later, Davis Love III didn’t see that as an option.

“If they (LIV Golf) say, ‘Hey, maybe we made a mistake and maybe we should drop a lawsuit and maybe we should quit stealing your players,’ then we might want to talk to them, but I don’t think that’s their model,” Love said Wednesday at the RSM Classic.

LIV Golf joined an antitrust lawsuit that was filed against the PGA Tour earlier this summer in Northern California and the Tour has since counter-sued the Saudi-backed league for, among other things, contract interference. There is also a separate lawsuit in the United Kingdom that is challenging the DP World Tour’s handling of players who joined LIV. It’s the legal complications that prompted Love to conclude there’s no room for détente between the rival tours.

“They’re recruiting college players, they’re recruiting PGA Tour players, they’re recruiting DP World Tour players. As long as they’re actively trying a hostile takeover, take our players away, get them to break the rules and go somewhere else, I don’t think it matters who’s running it,” said Love, who played Wednesday’s pro-am with Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “I don’t think we sit down with anybody unless they say, ‘Hey, we give.’”

The Northern California lawsuit is currently scheduled for a January 2024 trial and the hearing in the United Kingdom will be held in February.