Scottie Scheffler, the top-ranked player in the world, is worried about the lack of clarity stemming from the PGA Tour’s pending deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Scottie Scheffler concerned with the fallacy of ‘player-run’ PGA Tour amid LIV Golf deal
Scheffler expressed concern about the supposed ‘player-run’ organization in a press conference ahead of the Scottish Open.
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.
Scheffler addressed this topic ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open.
“As a player on the PGA Tour, we still don’t really have a lot of clarity as to what’s going on, and that’s a bit worrisome,” Scheffler admitted in his pre-tournament press conference.
“They keep saying it’s a player-run organization, and we don’t really have the information that we need... We are not involved in any of the discussions.”
The PGA has claimed to be a player-run organization. It’s certainly interesting that the players know as much as Joe Schmoe on the couch about this deal.
On Jul. 11, PGA Tour officials Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne testified before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) to discuss the inner workings of the PGA’s framework agreement with the PIF.
The entire golfing world tuned in, including players, but Scheffler was left with more questions than answers.
“I watched part of [the hearing] yesterday and didn’t learn anything,” Scheffler noted. “It really is kind of that cycle where it’s just a framework agreement, so I don’t know what that entails.”
Perhaps the biggest revelation from the Jul. 11 hearing was a 276-page document that the PSI released as part of its probe.
That document includes communications, emails, and proposals between PGA and LIV Golf officials, some of which call for LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman’s firing.
Another point proposed Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy owning LIV Golf teams while Yasir al-Rumayyan, Governor of the PIF, joins Augusta National as a member.
As for Scheffler, he is putting these distractions aside, despite his trepidations.
“I just try to keep my head down and play golf,” Scheffler said. “I love playing golf on the PGA Tour, and that’s the spot for me. I’m hoping that’s going to exist for a long time. I felt like we were doing a good job before, and then the agreement happened, and now we have to navigate the whole deal.”
Scheffler has played spectacularly on the PGA Tour this season, as he has 11 top-10s since the calendar flipped to 2023. That includes victories at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and The Players Championship.
Now his attention turns to his play on the British Isles, as he hopes to play well at the Scottish Open before next week’s Open Championship, the final major of the year.
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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