Tag: SSG

‘Too many people are losing interest’: LIV Golf players agree the current state of professional golf is ‘unsustainable’

Bryson DeChambeau said a reunion needs to “happen quicker rather than later just for the good of the sport.”

PGA Tour and LIV Golf players finally have something to agree on – the divide and current state of professional golf is unsustainable.

Rory McIlroy has been outspoken on the topic over the last few months, and a week before the two sides reunite for the first major of the year at the 2024 Masters – 13 LIV players will tee it up at Augusta National – a handful of LIV’s captains explained why the game needs to come back together sooner rather than later.

“The fans are what drive this sport. If we don’t have fans, we don’t have golf. We are not up here entertaining. That’s the most important thing as of right now, the low-hanging fruit. There’s got to be a way to come together,” said Bryson DeChambeau ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Miami event at Trump National Doral. “It’s not sustainable for sure, and we all respect that and recognize that and want the best for the game of golf. We all love this game and we want to keep playing it and we want to keep competing.”

“And it needs to happen fast. It’s not a two-year thing,” he added. “Like it needs to happen quicker rather than later just for the good of the sport. Too many people are losing interest.”

Jon Rahm, the biggest name to make the jump to LIV from the PGA Tour ahead of the 2024 season, believes there’s enough room in the professional golf sandbox for both circuits.

“I think there’s room for both. It’s as simple as that. I think we have the opportunity to end up with an even better product for the spectators and the fans of the game, a little bit more variety doesn’t really hurt anybody,” said Rahm, who will look to defend his Masters title next week. “I think properly done, we can end up with a much better product that can take golf to the next level worldwide, and I’m hoping that’s what ends up happening.”

“I agree with that. I think in the end, we are in a transitional state where we now have competition and that’s leading to a lot of disruption and change but it’s also in the end product going to make golf more global where the best players travel more,” added Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion. “I don’t know how it’s going to end out, exactly, or what it’s going to look like. I’m putting my trust in Yasir and where the game is headed more globally. But at some point when it gets ironed out, I think it’s going to be in a much better place where we bring the best players from the world, and it’s going to open up more opportunities for manufacturing, course design, for players in different parts of the world to be inspired and enter the game. I think it’s going to be in a much better place.”

Mickelson said the game is in a “disruption phase” that started back in 2022 when he and the first crop of players took their talents to the Saudi-backed league. Since then, the PGA Tour has made drastic changes to its schedule and has created a for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, with initial funding of $1.5 billion from the Strategic Sports Group, an outside investment group comprised of various owners of teams in other professional sports leagues.

PGA Tour Enterprises was initially supposed to be backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – LIV’s longtime financier – as part of the framework agreement that was announced and shocked the golf world on June 6, 2023. The new entity is still considering as much as a $3 billion investment from the PIF in the wake of a meeting between PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and the Tour’s leadership in the Bahamas last month.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Senate both have a keen interest in the proposed deal, which doesn’t appear to be anywhere near completion, much to the chagrin of players on both sides of the professional golf aisle.

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Flight trackers show PGA Tour, Tiger Woods and Saudi PIF meeting may be happening in the Bahamas

Jets tied to Jay Monahan, Tiger Woods and Yasir Al-Rumayyan are all bound for or currently parked in the Bahamas.

Both Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy confirmed an earlier Golfweek report that a group of PGA Tour players were planning to meet with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, on Monday in an effort to continue towards a deal that would seemingly reunite men’s professional golf.

The original report stated the meeting was tentatively scheduled at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, following the conclusion of the Players Championship at nearby TPC Sawgrass. Flight tracking data shows the meeting may actually be happening in the Bahamas.

A jet registered to Saudi Aramco, the state-owned petroleum and natural gas company chaired by Al-Rumayyan, that flew to New York City the day of the June 6 framework agreement announcement landed in Houston on Sunday. Another jet registered to Aramco flew to the Bahamas on Sunday, where Tiger Woods’ jet and yachts are both reportedly parked. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s jet (registered to Tour Air Inc.) was bound for the Bahamas on Monday morning, as was the jet tied to SSG consortium member and Fenway Sports Group co-founder John Henry (registered to Algonquin Aviation LLC). Henry’s plane landed in the Bahamas but has since taken off again.

The social media account, Radar Atlas, regularly tracks flights, and the original account was banned for tracking Elon Musk’s flights. The new account can be found @RadarAtlas2.

Last week during his annual State of the Tour address, Monahan confirmed he met with Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor and LIV Golf chairman, in Saudi Arabia in January and that he was accompanied by representatives of the SSG. In January, SSG invested $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the vehicle through which the future of the sport will be shaped.

“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential,” Monahan said of the “accelerated” discussions. “It’s going to take time, but I reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA Tour and the sport as a whole. Most importantly, I see a positive outcome for our great fans.”

Golfweek has reached out to both the Tour and PIF for comment.

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Rory McIlroy explains what he wants PGA Tour players to learn from Saudi PIF meeting

McIlroy wants players to understand that Al-Rumayyan “wants to do the right thing” with an investment in golf.

Earlier this week Rory McIlroy said he wanted “the train to speed up so we can get this thing over and done with” in reference to the ongoing discussions between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Choo choo.

Patrick Cantlay confirmed a Golfweek report that a group of PGA Tour players are planning to meet with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, on Monday in an effort to continue towards a deal that would seemingly reunite men’s professional golf. The original report stated the meeting was tentatively scheduled at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, following the conclusion of the Players Championship at nearby TPC Sawgrass.

After finishing T-19 at the Players, McIlroy said he was glad that players would finally be meeting with Al-Rumayyan, including Tiger Woods.

“I mean, he’s a player director. He’s on the board, so absolutely he needs to be involved,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy wants players to understand that Al-Rumayyan “wants to do the right thing” with his investment in golf and that he wants to be involved “in a productive way.”

“I think I’ve said this before, I have spent time with Yasir and his. … the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, so Norman and those guys,” McIlroy said of his perception of the difference between the PIF and LIV. “I see the two entities, and I think there’s a big, I actually think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”

That said, McIlroy believes there’s a way to incorporate team golf, but it doesn’t have to necessarily look like LIV.

“But, again, it’s going to require patience. People have contracts at LIV up until 2028, 2029. I don’t know if they’re going to see that all the way out, but I definitely see LIV playing in its current form for the next couple years anyway while everything gets figured out,” McIlroy explained. “I don’t think this is an overnight solution, but if we can get the investment in, then at least we can start working towards a compromise where we’re not going to make everyone happy, but at least make everyone understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

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Patrick Cantlay confirms meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for Monday

Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the PIF.

On Friday, Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in an effort to continue to broker a deal between the Tour and the controversial sovereign wealth fund that has been disrupting men’s professional golf.

Two sources told Eamon Lynch a meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, following the conclusion of the Players Championship at nearby TPC Sawgrass. Patrick Cantlay, a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, confirmed the meeting with Sports Illustrated on Sunday and tabbed the event as a meet-and-greet.

“Well, I’ve gotta hear out what they have to say, and I will always do my best to represent the entire membership whenever I am in a meeting in that capacity,” Cantlay told SI after his final round at the Players Championship. “I think more information is always better.”

Cantlay didn’t provide any details for the meeting. It’s unknown who else from the Tour, PIF or Strategic Sports Group may be in attendance.

“If it weren’t to happen, we would go on in a similar paradigm to how we’re going on right now,” Cantlay said when asked about if a deal could not be consummated. “I think there’s pros and cons.”

Five of the six player-directors on the Tour’s Policy Board — all of whom now also serve on the board of the new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises — were in the field at the Players this week: Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson. Only Tiger Woods did not compete. Joe Ogilvie, a retired veteran who was added to both boards last week as a liaison to player directors, plans to arrive in Ponte Vedra Beach Sunday in advance of an Enterprises board meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Tour headquarters.

From Golfweek’s original report on the meeting:

A meeting between Al-Rumayyan and the players would be intended as an informal ice-breaker in a bid to advance negotiations between the Tour and the PIF, talks which have been largely stalled since the June 6 announcement of a Framework Agreement between the parties. A faction of player-directors remains angered about the secretive process leading to that agreement and are known to be skeptical of a deal with the Saudis, who have poured billions of dollars into LIV Golf.

Earlier in the week during his annual State of the Tour address, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed he met with PIF governor and LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan in Saudi Arabia in January and that he was accompanied by representatives of the SSG. In January, SSG invested $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the vehicle through which the future of the sport will be shaped.

“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential,” Monahan said of the “accelerated” discussions. “It’s going to take time, but I reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA Tour and the sport as a whole. Most importantly, I see a positive outcome for our great fans.”

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch contributed to this article.

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Steve Stricker says some LIV golfers want to come back to PGA Tour; are player transfers an option?

The golf conversation continues to be dominated by the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift.

TUCSON, Ariz. — While player movement at the top level of men’s professional golf usually involves LIV recruiting yet another PGA Tour player, Steve Stricker said he knows that some LIV golfers want to return to the PGA Tour.

“I know that for a fact,” he said Thursday after his pro-am round ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club. “And so it’s kind of a wait and see game.”

With much of the golf conversation dominated by the rift, there doesn’t see to be much oxygen left to talk about the other tours but players on the PGA Tour Champions are paying attention to the goings-on in the world of professional golf.

“Of course I’m very interested in what happens,” said Stewart Cink, who turned 50 last year but still plays on both PGA Tour circuits. “I hope that we can get back together as like one sport in golf, but it’s a complex situation.”

With the PGA Tour holding a big-money signature event at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and LIV Golf playing for a fourth time in 2024 in Hong Kong, the Champions circuit is about to stage the first of three straight West Coast events.

“Ultimately, I hope someday we all can play nice together again and have the best players in the world playing and competing against one another,” said Stricker. “I think that day will come and I think there will be some circumstances, you know, where those guys that left are going to have to do something, I don’t know, a penalty of some sort, I don’t know what that means. I hope some day it all comes back together and the guys are playing all together again.”

Whether the rival tours coexist, merge or simply allow some crossover, many feel that there should be no easy path back to the PGA Tour for those who left.

“I wouldn’t let the LIV guys come right back, I don’t think. I think there needs to be some way of, you know, just another way to say thanks for the guys that didn’t leave and just kind of abandon our standards and rules,” Cink said. “I think there needs to be some form of like delayed, I don’t know if it’s delaying some of their performance bonuses or if it’s some kind of a suspension that maintains itself, I don’t know exactly, but something.”

Big names on the PGA Tour leaving for LIV Golf is having a ripple effect on the Champions tour.

“It’s unfortunate, because when [Phil] Mickelson came out, it was a jolt for our tour and it was great,” David Toms, the defending champion of the Cologuard Classic, said during a media day Monday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, for the upcoming Galleri Classic.

Mickelson won his first two – and four of his first six – starts on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 but seven months after rolling in a birdie putt on the 18th hole at Phoenix Country Club to end that season, he was off to London for the first-ever LIV Golf event.

“And so then all of the sudden he’s not a part of us anymore. So that’s unfortunate,” Toms said.

The drain of veteran golfers with name recognition means the Champions circuit also lost out on Lee Westwood, who turned 50 in April of 2023 and it won’t be able to welcome Ian Poulter, who turned 48 in January 2024, nor Henrik Stenson, who turns 48 this April, in the coming years. The PGA Tour losing a bit of name recognition eventually means a weakened Champions tour.

As long as the PGA Tour and LIV exist, perhaps there’s some middle ground that can be found.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth. I played (Mexico Open) there on the PGA Tour a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure they would have loved to have Abraham Ancer play. So I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways,” said Padraig Harrington, who compared the situation to the rivalry the PGA Tour used to have with the European Tour. “When the European Tour is in Spain this year, we would love to have Jon Rahm play the Spanish Open. I’m not against a small amount of transfer of players playing events and maybe a couple of invites going each direction. Maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not.

“But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

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PGA Tour Enterprises launched with nine players, including Tiger Woods, on board of directors

The more significant news was the naming of retired Tour pro Joe Ogilvie to the board.

The newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises announced its first board of directors on Wednesday.

The 13-member board has nine PGA Tour Directors, approved by the Tour’s Policy Board, and four Strategic Sports Group Directors, appointed by the SSG investor group. This board will lead all commercial activities related to the PGA Tour and will focus on driving fan engagement and growth, as well as developing new media, sponsorship and commercial opportunities.

All six current Player Directors from the Tour Policy Board will simultaneously serve on the Tour Enterprises Board of Directors: Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods.

The more significant news was the naming of retired Tour pro Joe Ogilvie to the board.

“Given the significant time investment required from the players to serve on both Boards – and as part of the Tour’s governance review – the Player Directors identified the benefit of having a ‘Director Liaison’ on both Boards as well,” the Tour said in a news release. “Ogilvie will join the PGA Tour Policy Board and the PGA Tour Enterprises Board of Directors.

Joe Gorder, who serves as an Independent Director on the Tour Policy Board, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan round out the Tour representation on the Enterprises Board. Monahan will serve as the CEO of Enterprises, and Woods will serve as the Vice Chairman of the Board.

As announced in January, SSG – a consortium of American sports team owners led by Fenway Sports Group – joined PGA Tour Enterprises as a minority investor, providing an initial $1.5 billion of capital that will “unlock investment opportunities to grow the Tour and enhance the game of golf around the world.”

The four SSG Directors will be:

  • John W. Henry, Principal, Fenway Sports Group; Manager, Strategic Sports Group
  • Arthur M. Blank, Co-Founder, Home Depot; Owner and Chairman, AMB Sports and Entertainment (Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta Drive GC, PGA Tour Superstore)
  • Andrew B. Cohen, Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder, Cohen Private Ventures; Vice Chairman, New York Mets
  • Sam Kennedy, Partner/CEO, Fenway Sports Group; President & CEO, Boston Red Sox

The PGA Tour Enterprises Board will elect a chairman at an upcoming meeting.

“Today’s announcement is another milestone for our organization, as I believe we have arrived at a PGA Tour Enterprise’s Board of Directors with the right composition, expertise and balance necessary to take our organization into the future,” said Monahan. “Our current and former players will provide essential insight into our members’ priorities and needs. And we welcome key SSG members to the leadership team, whose exceptional track records and achievements in global professional sports will lend a wealth of knowledge into the opportunities ahead for the PGA Tour. Their expertise will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the success and growth of our commercial initiatives.

“It’s an opportunity for us to shape something special that will not only create more value for the PGA Tour, but will also benefit and grow our fanbase,” the Player Directors and Liaison Director said in a joint statement.  “We’re ready to get started.”

“Our role on the Enterprises board will focus on hearing Player Director ideas and working alongside them to ensure the sport’s commercial growth occurs in a way that creates the best possible product for fans,” said Henry. “All of us at Strategic Sports Group see a bright future for the PGA Tour and the constitution of the Enterprises Board is an important first step in realizing that future.”

In addition to Ogilvie’s forthcoming appointment, Monahan will be a voting member as well, which will expand that Policy Board from 12 to 14.

Player Directors

Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods

Liaison Director

Joe Ogilvie

PGA Tour Commissioner

Jay Monahan

Independent Directors

Edward Herlihy, Jimmy Dunne, Mark Flaherty, Mary Meeker, Joe Gorder

PGA of America Director

John Lindert

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LeBron James, Drake lead list of celebrities who have invested in PGA Tour

LeBron and Drake weren’t the only high-level personal investors to back the PGA Tour.

The discussion around professional golf lately has been less birdies and bogeys and more dollars and bills.

The PGA Tour recently partnered with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG), an outside investment conglomerate headlined by Fenway Sports Group and comprised of several high-level U.S.-based sports owners, to create a new, for-profit entity called PGA Tour Enterprises. The deal will provide players equity in the new venture and will see the SSG invest up to $3 billion, with an initial investment of $1.5 billion. The player grants will vest over time and will be based on career accomplishments, recent achievements, etc. Only qualified PGA Tour players are eligible.

However, more people were involved in the investment than announced. According to the New York Times Dealbook newsletter, NBA superstar LeBron James and rapper Drake were part of a group of celebrities in the sports, music and entertainment spaces that personally invested in the new venture.

MORE: How player equity in PGA Tour Enterprises will work

The newsletter claims James and Drake will be “strategic investors” and will use their stardom to broaden golf’s audience and went as far as to report that James joined PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the home of SSG investor Tom Werner to discuss his role.

“Golf can be so much more than a sport. I remember some of my best childhood memories was being on the golf course with my uncle,” Drake said in a statement to DealBook. “It’s one thing to invest in a team, but to help reimagine one of the biggest leagues in the world is an incredible opportunity and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The newsletter also listed the following PGA Tour investors who were previously unidentified: Chris Pratt (actor), Maverick Carter (James’s business partner), Rich Paul (James’s agent), Jeremy Zimmer (CEO of United Talent Agency) and Steve Stoute (founder of UnitedMasters). The point man behind the investments is Paul Wachter, the Los Angeles-based investor who now runs Main Street Advisors.

Back on June 6, 2023, the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create what we now know as PGA Tour Enterprises. Four months later, the PGA Tour’s policy board announced it had advanced discussions with the SSG and that it had not shut the door on the PIF.

MORE: Greg Norman sends letter to LIV staff regarding $3 billion investment in PGA Tour

The Dec. 31 deadline to come to a definitive agreement with the PIF was extended, and Monahan sent a memo to players that stated “active and productive” negotiations would continue into 2024 with the PIF based on the progress made to date.

Why bring in outside investors if talks with the PIF are continuing? One could argue that bringing in SSG would dilute the Saudi investment and make the deal more palatable given the U.S. government’s various questions. On the flip side, such a move might be seen as a way for the Tour to have its cake and eat it, too, by pushing the Saudis out after ending the litigation with the framework agreement. The former seems more realistic and would be a step towards reuniting the game, while the latter would be another pivot from the Tour that would only lead to more battles with LIV.

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Rory McIlroy expands on ‘dream scenario’ for global tour like soccer’s Champions League

“(The Tour needs) to think internationally and spread their wings a bit. I’ve been banging that drum for a while.”

Rory McIlroy no longer has a seat at the table of the PGA Tour after relinquishing his position as a member of its board of directors, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have strong opinions about the future direction of the circuit.

Following his third round on Saturday of the Genesis Invitational in Pacific Palisades, California, McIlroy expanded on his “dream scenario,” which he outlined last month in an interview with Golf Digest, for how a more global circuit could work.

Before the Tour officially finalized its deal with SSG to pump potentially $3 billion into the PGA Tour’s new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, McIlroy said, “there is an untapped commercial opportunity out there. Investors always want to make a return on their money. Revenues at the PGA Tour right now are about $2.3 billion. So how do we get that number up to four or six? To me, it is by looking outward. They need to think internationally and spread their wings a bit. I’ve been banging that drum for a while.”

“I think it’s all pie in the sky stuff,” he said after shooting 69 in the third round at Riviera Country Club. “I think there has to be a component of the Southern Hemisphere, Australia, South Africa. There obviously has to be a component of the Far East, whether that be Korea, Japan, China. Obviously the Middle East as well. We’ve been going to the Middle East for a long time, but obviously Dubai, Saudi, and then sort of working our way from east to west and back into the United States for the sort of spring, summertime.”

McIlroy envisions a tour for the best players that would play in the neighborhood of 24 events around the globe, the four majors plus 20 limited-field tournaments in the fashion of this week’s signature event in L.A.

“I would think it would be one tour. I think you would just create a tour for the top 80 players in the world,” he said. “Everything sort of feeds up into that one. You know, the way I look at it, it would be like Champions League in European football. It sort of sits above the rest of the leagues and then all those leagues sort of feed up into that and the best of the best play against each other in the Champions League is the way I would think about it.”

He added: “I don’t think it will look too dissimilar to what it is right now, but maybe the front end of the year and the back end of the year might look a little different. I still think there’s — I don’t think we need to blow everything up, but there definitely needs to be some tweaks, I think.”

McIlroy’s idea could have legs as the Tour plots a new future as a for-profit with private equity investors expecting a return on their investment, not to mention the still-to-be-determined involvement of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the newly-created business.

“I think you just have to convince the players to buy into it because that’s what’s going to be best for them, especially if you’re going to be an owner of that tour,” he said. “Everyone’s got their own interests in this game and that’s what happens when you’ve got quite a fractured landscape at this point. So trying to align everyone’s interests and trying to convince everyone that this is the right thing to do for the game of golf as a whole, and if you can convince everyone of that, then it would be pretty simple. But right now it’s just trying to get everyone singing off the same hymn sheet.”

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Player equity in $3 billion PGA Tour Enterprises to be broken down into four groups

The majority of equity will be granted to 36 players based on career and last 5-year performance, PIP results.

When the PGA Tour announced the $3 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) to create the PGA Tour Enterprises, one of the biggest questions surrounding the deal regarded player equity.

A Tour statement said “nearly 200 PGA Tour members will have the opportunity to become equity holders” in the new for-profit entity and that PGA Tour Enterprises was “also considering participation by future PGA Tour players that would allow them to benefit from the business’s commercial growth,” meaning new players or those who return from LIV Golf would have access once they gain membership.

A week after the initial release, the Tour sent a memo to players – first reported online by Ryan French of Monday Q Info – on Wednesday breaking down the equity groups and how grants would work. The player grants will vest over time and only qualified PGA Tour players are eligible.

From the memo:

  • Group 1 consists of $750 million in aggregate equity and will be granted to 36 players based on career performance, last 5-year performance, and Player Impact Program results.
  • Group 2 consists of $75 million in aggregate equity and will be granted to 64 players based on the last 3-year performance.
  • Group 3 consists of $30 million in aggregate equity and will be granted to 57 players who have earned certain fully-exempt PGA Tour status categories.
  • Group 4 consists of $75 million in aggregate equity and will be granted to 36 players who were instrumental in building the modern PGA Tour, based on career performance.

Of the initial $1.5 billion of the $3 billion investment, $930 million is accounted for in those four groups. But what about the rest of the initial investment?

“The recurring player equity grants are incremental to the initial grants, are in the aggregate amount of $600 million, and are planned to be awarded in the amounts of $100 million each year starting with the 2025 PGA Tour Season and continuing through the 2030 PGA TOUR Season (at a minimum),” the memo read. “It is important to note that all PGA Tour members are eligible to receive recurring grants – regardless of whether or not they received an initial grant. These recurring grants will reward future top performers and will be based on last 3-year performance, last year performance and Player Impact Program results.”

PGA Tour Enterprises also allows for a co-investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.”

Back on June 6, 2023, the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi PIF to create the for-profit entity now known as PGA Tour Enterprises. Four months later, the PGA Tour’s policy board announced it had advanced discussions with the SSG and that it had not shut the door on the PIF.

The Dec. 31 deadline to come to a definitive agreement with the PIF was extended, and Monahan recently sent a memo to players that stated “active and productive” negotiations would continue into 2024 with the PIF based on the progress made to date. Monahan and Al-Rumayyan reportedly met last month in Saudi Arabia to continue negotiations.

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Advisers could face 20 years in Saudi Arabia prison if they comply with U.S. investigation in PGA Tour, LIV Golf dealings

Discussions between the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF remain ongoing despite a $3 billion outside investment.

The direct litigation involving the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was put aside with last June’s framework agreement, but there are still plenty of lawsuits surrounding the controversial dealings between the entities.

The PIF’s governor and LIV Golf chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, is allegedly facing a $74 million lawsuit in Canadian court, and on Wednesday Bloomberg reported the Kingdom has threatened to imprison not only bankers but also consultants it has worked with if they choose to cooperate with the United States government as it continues to investigate the agreement. Back in November, the PIF sued its advisers in Saudi court to block any submission of information to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Both the Department of Justice and U.S. Senate have held a keen interest in the talks between the Tour and PIF, the financial backers of LIV Golf, over the last seven months. On Feb. 6, the committee held a hearing in Washington, D.C., that featured PIF consultants Paul Keary (Teneo Strategy), Michael Klein (M. Klein & Co.), Rich Lesser (Boston Consulting Group) and Bob Sternfels (McKinsey).

“The PIF has been explicit that the disclosure of information relating to BCG’s work for PIF is a violation of Saudi law, which ‘imposes criminal penalties for disclosing or disseminating such information including imprisonment for a maximum of 20 years,’” Lesser said. “We risk criminal and financial penalties for the firm and for individuals working or living in Saudi Arabia.”

MORE: Al-Rumayyan updates players on future investment in PGA Tour

“This represents aberrant behavior for a client, and, quite frankly, for the PIF, who has historically been a client that has operated with best practices of governance with us,” added Klein, one of the PIF’s top advisers.

The committee took issue with the fact that the four advisers have not fully cooperated with the investigation and that the firms, according to Bloomberg, “have only provided a fraction of the documents demanded in a congressional subpoena.” Senate records detailed that the information submitted largely consisted of calendar invites with redacted names, publicly available records and news clippings.

“It’s simply staggering to me that American companies are not only willing to accept this claim, allowing the Saudi government to determine what is permitted to provide this subcommittee — but also that they would use it to justify their refusal to comply with a duly issued congressional subpoena,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

The PIF released the following statement in response to the hearing:

We have been and are committed to working with the Subcommittee in good faith in a manner that is consistent with PIF’s status and obligations as an instrumentality of Saudi Arabia. We have made, and are continuing to make, significant efforts to facilitate the production of requested information from our advisors consistent with the laws of Saudi Arabia, which should be recognized like those of any other country.

To date, we have facilitated production from our advisors of thousands of substantive pages of presentations, correspondence, and final deliverables related to our investments and their work on our behalf. We are engaged in extensive and rapid document reviews and will continue working constructively and with integrity with the Subcommittee with relevant information that can legally be disclosed under the laws of Saudi Arabia.

The Subcommittee’s requests are sweeping and unprecedented in seeking to compel the production of confidential and classified information of a foreign sovereign instrumentality, but we hope to work with the Subcommittee to resolve these issues.

PIF is confident that its support for innovative and transformative companies has and will promote economic opportunity and job creation in the United States, and around the world. To date, PIF has invested over $79 billion in the U.S. economy, and is expected to grow that investment significantly by 2030. Our estimates show that investment would lead to more than 550,000 new American jobs. As a rational investment fund, PIF acts independently in carrying out its investment activities. As a long-term investor and catalyst of change, PIF is invested in the projects, companies and partners that will create new opportunities for investment and employment, including in the U.S., and shape global industries of the future.

The original framework agreement between the Tour and PIF set in motion plans to create a new for-profit entity that would change professional golf as we know it. The Dec. 31, 2023 deadline to strike a deal was missed and extended into 2024. Over the last few months, the Tour has fielded offers from a handful of outside investment groups, and last week secured a $3 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of sports owners led by Fenway Sports Group, to create the aforementioned entity, now known as PGA Tour Enterprises. The investment has been seen in two ways: one, as a way to dilute any Saudi investment to make a deal more palatable for the U.S. government, and two, as a way for the Tour to block out the PIF after ending litigation.

Discussions between the Tour and PIF remain ongoing.

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