At this point, neither will even admit they truly want, or even need, each other.
On one side is the PGA Tour, ready to bask in the start of major season with next week’s Masters. On the other is renegade counterpart LIV, busy propping up its 2025 US season debut this weekend in Miami. If the gulf between them represents the long-term commitment promised in a 2023 framework agreement to reunify men’s professional golf, no one seems willing to take the next step.
But this is the PGA’s fight to win.
Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said during his state of the tour address prior to the recent Players Championship: “We will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners. So while we’ve removed some hurdles, others remain. … The only deal that we would regret is one that compromises the essence of what makes the game of golf and the PGA Tour so exceptional.”
And here was newly installed LIV CEO Scott O’Neil before play began in Miami: “Have to do a deal? No. Nice to do a deal? So long as we’re all focused on the same thing, which is growing the game of golf. I think we’re all kind of up for that. … This is not my deal. Hope all goes well and does what’s best for golf. If that’s a deal, great. If it’s not a deal, great. We’re in pretty good stead.”
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Like boxers snarling in a corner, posturing as if actually ready to fight, it’s all just a big bag of nothing. But the more it stays like this, the more the scorecard favors the PGA Tour.
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As The Guardian reported Thursday, the US-based tour rejected the most recent $1.5 billion proposed investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund that underwrites LIV, confident enough where they are to laugh off demands that LIV continue as a standalone tour and to install PIF governor Yasir al-Rumayyan as co-chairman of the PGA Tour. Why would they do either, when their own metrics show an ongoing post-LIV bump in popularity and contented players raking in home-grown dollars from the Strategic Sports Group?
Even more, why would Monahan and Co. continue in any way to court the breakaway group that nearly broke the sport? Before you start yelling, I can type the word “money” as quickly as you can say it.
But wouldn’t it be something to see the Tour rise above its greed and wait it out, let LIV collapse under the weight of its own largesse, and achieve the goal of reunification that way?
LIV remains a pale imitation of the real thing. No matter how much they insist their new broadcast partner, Fox, will garner more viewers than the joke that was the CW, or how much they sell louder crowds, social media antics, and team play as reasons for fans to defect, too.
The cracks are showing. The biggest headliners — Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau — are still better known for what they do off the course than on it. The biggest winner, Brooks Koepka, acknowledged out loud he thought negotiations would be further along, and another top player, Jon Rahm, continues to fend off rumors (as does Koepka) that buyer’s remorse has him one foot out the door.
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Look at Hudson Swafford, axed from LIV and still looking for a way back to the PGA Tour.
Or Eugenio Chacarra, the Spanish amateur and former Oklahoma State standout who tumbled out of LIV and recently told the Flushing It podcast that LIV is “only money.”
“When I joined LIV, they promised OWGR [world golf ranking points] and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first young guy, then the others came after I made the decision. But OWGR and majors still hasn’t happened.”
Heck, not even an endorsement from President Trump moved the needle.
Maybe it’s because the golf fan is already better off than when LIV first lured away players with multimillion dollar contracts and funky three-day, no-cut tournaments and team play. Defectors are still happy collecting their cash despite playing in relative anonymity and facing no real competitive stakes, and now, the names of note are no longer barred from entry into the major tournaments.
The US and British Opens, as well as the PGA Championship, have made certain exemptions for top performing LIV golfers. Augusta just does what it wants. While the Masters automatically invites past champions, assuring the participation of Mickelson, Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson and (don’t jump now) Charl Schwartzel, they also include five-year major winners and top 50 world golf point holders, getting Koepka, DeChambeau, Cam Smith, and Tyrrell Hatton into the field. After that, they just issue special invites, like the one extended to Joaquin Niemann.
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But that won’t last forever. LIV might continue to go after big names — the PGA Tour certainly hope that doesn’t happen — but beyond money, they don’t have much to offer. They are not a feeder system back to relevancy, just an ATM surrounded by green grass and hospitality tents.
The PGA doesn’t need them, and should tell them so. For good.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.