One yr in the past, the golf world assumed a deal was imminent between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF)—LIV Golf’s beneficiary.
In any case, the framework settlement between the 2 sides, which additionally contains the DP World Tour, set a concrete deadline of Dec. 31, 2023. However alas, that date has come and gone with none arraignment between golf’s warring excursions.
Then, in February 2024, on the daybreak of the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, the tour introduced that it had obtained a considerable $1.5 billion funding from the Strategic Sports activities Group (SSG), a consortium of American sports activities homeowners. That group contains Steve Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund supervisor who owns the New York Mets.
Quick-forward to Monday, when the upstart TGL Golf League hosted an occasion in Manhattan for its New York-based membership. Cohen, additionally an investor in TGL, expressed confidence in a deal between the tour and the PIF reaching the end line quickly.
“It’s plenty of transferring components, and I believe we’ll get there,” Cohen mentioned per Bloomberg.
So many variables nonetheless should be sorted, together with a possible intervention from the Division of Justice (DOJ), which reportedly has considerations over this deal violating anti-trust legal guidelines. The Senate’s Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) additionally has intervened, holding three separate hearings over the previous 18 months. The PSI is nervous in regards to the Saudi Arabian Kingdom’s targets and aims associated to sportswashing.
But, since 2022, quite a few main champions and former PGA Tour stalwarts have flocked to LIV Golf, receiving huge paydays to hitch the start-up league. These gamers, who embrace Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau, have since been suspended by the PGA Tour. This group can solely compete towards the tour’s finest gamers, corresponding to Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele, within the 4 main championships and a handful of DP World Tour occasions.
“The objective is to reunite all of the gamers — it’s fragmented proper now,” Cohen added.
“Attending to play in a single match, one venue, no matter it’s, is thrilling.”
Some really feel {that a} unified golf schedule will turn out to be a actuality in 2026. Nonetheless, given Cohen’s pedigree as a sports activities proprietor and investor, his confidence ought to be a welcome sight for golf followers who lengthy to see a reunited sport once more.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You’ll want to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
