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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday that there is no deadline for the tour to reach a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund but that negotiations to bring the fractured sport of golf back together have been “enhanced” and are “stronger.”
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF, which has financed the rival LIV Golf League the past three years, signed a framework agreement on June 6, 2023, to form an alliance that would potentially bring more than $1 billion in Saudi investment.
The deadline for that agreement expired Dec. 31, but the sides have continued to hammer out the details of a potential deal.
“I would say that the priority, it’s been enhanced,” Monahan said at a news conference ahead of this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. “It’s stronger. That’s a direct result of dialogue and conversation and really starting to talk about the future, future product vision and where we can take our sport.
“I think when you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations. I think that’s where things stand.”
On Jan. 31, the PGA Tour announced it had received a $1.5 billion investment — with up to $3 billion available — from Strategic Sports Group to form PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit entity.
SSG is a consortium of billionaire sports team owners and others, including Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Fenway Sports Group owner John W. Henry. PGA Tour Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder and Henry are part of a transactional subcommittee that is negotiating with the Saudis, along with golfers Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
“When you look at where we are right now, we’re in regular dialogue,” Monahan said. “We have the right people at the table with the right mindset. I see that in all of these conversations, and that’s both sides. That creates optimism about the future and our ability to come together. But at the same time, these conversations are complex. They’re going to take time. They have taken time, and they will continue to take time.”
Sources previously told ESPN that the role of team golf in the sport’s future and whether LIV Golf League competitors would be able to return to the PGA Tour without discipline have been sticking points in the negotiations.
On Wednesday, Tyler Dennis, the tour’s chief competitions officer, said golfers who were never members of the PGA Tour would face a one-year “waiting period” from when they last played in a LIV Golf League event before they would be allowed to compete on the PGA Tour.
Most of LIV Golf’s roster is composed of players who used to compete on the PGA Tour.
“Players who are members of the tour also have all of our tournament regulations and conduct policies applying to them,” Dennis said. “I’m not going to get into details about that, but there’s an additional set of guidelines there to consider.”