Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has met with the PGA Tour comissioner Jay Monahan and player directors to discuss his plans for investing in the tour, according to a letter sent to players by Monahan.
The prolonged negotiations between the PGA Tour and the PIF, which funds LIV Golf, have continued this week, with Al-Rumayyan meeting with the player directors on Monday.
Patrick Cantlay, who is one of six player directors on the PGA Tour board, confirmed after last week’s Players Championship that the meeting was to take place on Monday.
The other player directors on the board, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati, were also reportedly expected to be in attendance at a meeting at Albany in The Bahamas.
According to the letter sent to players, which was posted on Twitter by popular golf blog Monday Q, Al-Rumayyan met with the player directors in a “constructive” meeting.
“During the session, Yasir had the chance to introduce himself to our Player Directors and talk through the vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf,” Monahan wrote.
“As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time.”
(Sorry if someone posted this already, I was driving and then working on the Monday Q)A letter from Jay sent to the players today. pic.twitter.com/srGJbfo2fmMarch 19, 2024
The update comes as the PGA Tour’s negotiations with PIF moves into its ninth month since the golfing world was blindsided by a shock framework agreement between the parties last June, having already missed a target of December 31 to complete the deal.
It has created an air of uncertainty around the future of the men’s professional game, with some players and fans starting to lose trust in Monahan’s leadership.
That became apparent last week after top players like Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick suggested that they were unconvinced of the 53-year-old commissioner’s leadership.
“Trust is something that’s pretty tender, so words are words, and I would say in my book he’s got a long way to go,” Schauffele said ahead of the Players Championship.
Fitzpatrick expressed similar sentiments to Sky Sports: “Is he the right person? I don’t know. Probably not on paper.”
Rory McIlroy came out in support of the commissioner in his pre-tournament press conference.
Monahan was also booed by fans before speaking at the Players Championship prize ceremony after Scottie Scheffler’s victory at TPC Sawgrass.
Jay Monahan not exactly getting a warm welcome pic.twitter.com/zQvbTrvloKMarch 17, 2024
The PGA Tour is hoping a deal with the PIF will unify men’s professional golf after the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which has poached several big names to the rival circuit with significant financial incentives.
The PGA Tour announced in January that it had reached a $3 billion deal with Strategic Sports Group, an investment consortium including Liverpool FC and Boston Red Sox owners Fenway Sports Group, to establish a new commercial venture designed to give players an opportunity to hold equity in the tour.
The tour said at the time that it would not prevent a potential deal with PIF from progressing.
Jay Monahan's letter to players in full:
As you may know, your PGA TOUR Enterprises Player Directors joined me today in a meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The conversation throughout was constructive and represents an important part of our due diligence process in selecting potential investors for PGA TOUR Enterprises. This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group.
During the session, Yasir had the chance to introduce himself to our Player Directors and talk through the vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf. As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time.
Please feel free to reach out to the Korn Ferry Tour Player Relations Team or directly to me with additional questions.
Thank you,
Jay
