No deadline and little clarity offered on PGA Tour and Saudi PIF dealings

ATLANTA – For 20 uninterrupted and well-scripted minutes, Jay Monahan outlined the future of the PGA Tour.

With surprising ease, he covered the tenets that are driving the circuit’s path forward — engagement, momentum and innovation. E.M.I for short? Probably not, but what became clear during the commissioner’s annual “State of the Tour” press conference at East Lake Golf Club is that the future of the Tour will be forged within that framework.

Left unsaid, but equally as clear, was how or if Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf fit into that framework. “Finally, together, we’re at the table and actively engaged with the Public Investment Fund. We remain hopeful about that outcome,” Monahan said.

Just 20 words to cover what many believe to be the most pressing issue facing professional golf at the moment. By comparison, Monahan need 128 words to address the impact of “influencers” on the game and how Wednesday’s Creator Classic at East Lake has been “overwhelming.”

To be fair, the commissioner is in an impossible position. As he’s said countless times, he cannot and will not negotiate a deal with the PIF in public. Nor can Monahan give even the slightest hint he’s not negotiating in good faith.

Still, not mentioned in that 20-minute opening statement was how the game might be reunited. Monahan didn’t outline what the pathway back to the Tour for those players who joined LIV Golf might look like or how team golf could be incorporated into the Tour product.

These are all pressing questions and, just as they were well over a year ago when the Tour and PIF announced the framework agreement, still not answered.

Monahan did field plenty of questions about the negotiations. How, for example, could a player who joined LIV Golf be allowed to return to the Tour, but the answer provided little clarity. According to Tyler Dennis, the circuit’s chief competitions officer, a player who was never a member of the Tour would have a “one-year waiting period” before they could compete while a former member would have “an additional set of guidelines there to consider” before they were welcomed back.

The commissioner also was bluntly asked if a deal with PIF was necessary following the Tour’s move to a for-profit model earlier this year and an initial $1.5 billion investment by Strategic Sports Group.

“What we hear from fans and what we’re hearing from players, ultimately we’re both in a position to bring the best players in the world back together. I think that’s a good and aspirational goal,” Monahan said. “We’re at the table. They’re complex, and it’s going to take time.

“I think it’s the right time to be having these conversations, and it’s the right time not only for the PGA Tour but for the game. That’s why we’ve committed ourselves to those conversations.”

Perhaps the most telling moment in the 50-minute press conference came when Monahan was asked if a deal with PIF was as much of a priority as it was when the framework agreement was announced in June 2023.

“I would say that the priority … it’s been enhanced. It’s stronger. That’s a direct result of dialogue and conversation and really starting to talk about the future, future product vision and where we can take our sport,” he said. “I think when you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes, and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations.”

Asked if there was a deadline, like the initial one made for an agreement by Dec. 31, 2023, Monahan said, “We have not agreed to a deadline. I don’t think we want to restrict ourselves in that way. We want to achieve the best and right outcome at the right time.”

It must also be noted that a negotiation is a two-way street and there are suggestions among Tour types that the languid pace of the talks between the two sides is as much a Saudi problem as it is a Tour issue.

But whatever is causing the delay, Monahan’s subtle message was clear — the Tour is moving forward with or without the PIF and, by extension, those who joined the breakaway circuit. Clearly emboldened by an influx of cash and an economic model that provides for more financial flexibility, the commissioner’s message was clear.

“We now have the structure and the resources we need to define the future of professional golf on our terms and the significant support of a world-class group of investors,” he said in his opening remarks.

For those who have spent the last two years struggling to read between every line, the commissioner’s choice of scripted words was clear – on our terms.