With details emerging that the Saudi PIF’s proposed billion-dollar investment in the PGA Tour is at risk of collapse due to irreconcilable differences, the future shape of the major professional golf tours has never looked more unstable.
LIV Golf, which is funded by the PIF, begins its final event of the season at Trump Doral in Miami today, and all the pre-tournament talk has been about how many current PGA Tours are considering jumping ship to the breakaway league over the coming months.
That number can only be three, as that is the number of spots available in next season’s 48-man fields following the relegation of three players at the conclusion of last week’s final round of individual scoring events in Jeddah, but that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill working overtime to figure out which of the game’s big-name players will be nest to sign up to LIV Golf.
The announcement by the PGA Tour in June that it had accepted advancements from LIV Golf’s financial backers to come in as a major sponsor of the US-based tour sent shockwaves around the golfing world. But four months on very little detail has emerged as to how this new partnership will work and how the two tours could continue to rub along without the level of friction that has been seen to date.
Only last week LIV Golf players received the news that they will continue to be unable to earn world ranking points, further denting their prospects of being able to compete in the major championships, and further underlying just how jarring the established golfing hierarchy finds the concept of 54-hole, no-cut events.
Within the ‘framework agreement’ that was initially agreed between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf back in June there was a clause that LIV would not attempt to bring in any more stars from their rival tour. However, that clause was scrapped when the US Department of Justice expressed concerns over the anti-competitive nature of it, meaning LIV can still add to its group of players, which includes the likes of Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau.
And Mickelson, who played a significant role in recruiting players before the LIV Golf’s launch 18 months ago, believes that despite ongoing discussions between the tours, there will be another huge exodus of star golfers to the breakaway circuit.
“LIV needs to keep evolving,” Mickelson said during a press conference ahead of this week’s Team Series final in Miami. “But we have only been around a year and a half and look at the quality of players that we have already. And that’s going to continue to improve next year and it’s going to continue to improve the following year. Do I think that (more players will jump ship to LIV)? No. I know that’s going to happen. When players look at LIV, they are wanting to be a part of it. Everybody here is happy and enjoying what we are doing and enjoying the team aspect of it and the camaraderie and all the benefits that come with playing this tour.’
He added: ‘The reality is, I’ve been fielding calls, as we all have, from players who are free agents to PGA Tour players who want to come over. So the question is how many spots are available? There’s a lot more players that want to come than there are spots. I think those merger talks (between the PGA Tour and LIV) kind of opens the door for that.”
Poulter, who also defected to LIV last year, echoed Mickelson’s sentiment and said it made sense for players to want to join the breakaway circuit. “There will be a great deal of interest,” he said. “I am not going to give any names, but we’ve been contacted about players wanting to join. And that’s no surprise. Think about it, they’ll probably get fined, but if a player takes that chance, pays say $50,000 or whatever, then he makes it into the top three then he will earn minimum $1.75 million in 14 events in 2024. That’s minimum. Even if they shoot level 80s every week. If you’re on the DP World Tour then you’d be mad not to back yourself and have a go. It’s a different level.”
LIV Golf is holding a qualifying event for 2024 season in the Middle East in December, where the top three players will earn a spot in next year’s 14-event schedule. It is expected that players from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Asian Tour will be involved, although the fact that it takes place at the same time as the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, means that any member of the DP World Tour who took part in the LIV Golf qualifier would likely face sanctions . During LIV’s inaugural event in June 2022, all those players who appeared without permission were handed £100,000 fines and one-tournament bans by the DP World Tour.
It remains to be seen whether negotiations between the rival tours can be concluded in time for the December 31 deadline, while reports that US billionaire investors are preparing to back the PGA Tour means there could yet be an ultimate breakdown in the relationship between the parties.