Following the agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), the future structure of professional golf is uncertain. Yet, PGA Tour officials are adamant that the tour will have complete control of the game in the years to come.
PGA Tour VP shares who is really in ‘control’ of LIV Golf amid Saudi PIF deal
Amid so much uncertainty surrounding the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi’s PIF, the EVP of the tour made a very direct statement as to who is in control.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Executive Vice President Tyler Dennis and Chief Operations Officer Ron Price revealed that the PGA Tour is the leader of professional golf going forward.
The PGA Tour will control operations, not PIF, which has poured billions into LIV Golf.
“We wouldn’t move forward [with the agreement] without [the Tour having control],” Dennis said to Sports Illustrated. “[The PIF] understands that. As our players start to understand that, they start feeling better about the transaction.”
“And that’s very clear that the PGA Tour will be in charge.”
Interestingly, Dennis and Price’s comments come on the same day that Phil Mickelson expressed his complete confidence in LIV Golf and the professional game.
“Going forward, we are all very optimistic about where professional golf is headed,” Mickelson said Wednesday. “I think actions are a little bit stronger than words. If you look at what LIV is doing and what we are doing, that is more of a statement.”
But where does LIV Golf fit into a structure with the PGA Tour in complete control?
The framework agreement does address teamplay in professional golf. The newly established entity between the PGA Tour and PIF, dubbed “NewCo,” will “make a good faith assessment” of LIV Golf and its prospects, and Jay Monahan, current PGA Tour Commissioner, will have the final say.
Yet, the Tour is focused on working together and bridging the gaps burned over the past couple of years.
“I think you have to go back to what was announced and the spirit of the framework,” Dennis said to Sports Illustrated. “And that’s simply working together and working in a unified way that is going to be better for the sport, better for the professional game, better for the PGA Tour.”
If the Tour does have complete control of professional golf, keeping LIV Golf around beyond 2024 does not make much sense.
Team golf will be implemented in professional golf through Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new TGL golf league. This virtual golf season will occur for 15 weeks, from January to April.
Serena Williams and Fenway Sports Group have already announced their investment in two of the six TGL leagues in 2024.
Plus, for those players that defected to LIV, the framework agreement does give the PGA Tour the power to reinstate player memberships. However, nothing about that has been determined, like everything else, except for all litigations between the two are a thing of the past.
For now, the writing on the wall is clear: the PIF agreed that the PGA Tour would have control of operations, and the tour would not have done business with the Saudi Arabians under any other circumstance.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
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