How LIV Golf players can return to PGA Tour and DP World Tour part of agreement signed with Saudi Arabia’s PIF
- Framework agreement signed in shock move made public after being requested for senate hearing in Washington
- Deal outlines how sides will work together, but deadline of December 31 for partnership to be agreed
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have agreed to work with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to decide how LIV Golf players can return to the other circuits should they choose to do so.
A framework agreement released to multiple media outlets in the US, also said the for-profit company to be formed by the PGA Tour and the Saudis would be the “entity for professional golf” and the tours would coexist with LIV Golf.
Signed on May 30, the agreement was among documents requested by Senator Richard Blumenthal for a July 11 hearing in Washington. Blumenthal chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“Our goal is to uncover the facts about what went into the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund and what the Saudi takeover means for the future of this cherished American institution and our national interest,” Blumenthal said last week.
The PGA Tour has said it would take part, though it was not clear if Commissioner Jay Monahan would attend. He has not been seen in public since June 13, one week after the stunning deal was announced, because of a “medical situation”.
LIV Golf returns this week in Spain, before heading to London for its next event, and hours before the agreement was released sent out information regarding its team championship, and its promotion and relegation format for individual players at the end of the season.
The framework agreement sent to Blumenthal is lacking details that all three sides are still trying to work out, such as the future of LIV Golf.
It did not mention how much the PIF planned to invest in the new entity. The PGA Tour and DPWT are contributing all their commercial businesses and rights. NewCo would be an umbrella for all future golf-related investments of the three groups.
NewCo is to conduct an “objective empirical data-driven evaluation of LIV and its prospects and potential” and assess the benefits of team golf and then decide “how best to integrate team golf into PGA Tour and DP World Tour events going forward,” the agreement says.
Monahan, as CEO of the new entity, would determine the plan and strategy of NewCo operations, which would include LIV.
The second paragraph of the six-page agreement referred to as the Saudi fund and two leading tours creating a global golf partnership and “unifying the game.” It later mentions the new entity’s plan to create financial returns, “including through targeted mergers and acquisitions to globalise the sport.”
The PGA Tour and DPWT already have an alliance, and other tours such as Japan and South Africa have similar agreements. The Asian Tour has a partnership with LIV Golf, which helped launch its International Series and provides a pathway for the tour’s players to be part of the elite league.
The agreement also says the tours and the PIF would work together to try to get the Official World Golf Ranking to recognise LIV Golf, though that would be subject to OWGR criteria and the application that LIV filed last July. LIV fails to meet several criteria, in part because its events have no cuts and 48-man fields.
The PIF, along with investing in the new commercial entity, would make a financial investment as a “premier corporate sponsor” of the PGA Tour or DPWT, invest in becoming a title sponsor on one of the tours and contribute to a programme geared toward growing the game.
The PIF sponsors the Saudi International, which previously was part of the DPWT, but is now the richest event on the Asian Tour.
The agreement also laid out a timeline to reach a definitive deal by December 31. If it’s not done by then, the parties can agree to extend the deadline or go back to business as usual.
