PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Webb Simpson chuckled when reminded at the Valspar Championship that it was a year ago to the week that he and other members of the PGA Tour Policy Board met the head of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, for the first time.
The meeting in the Bahamas was considered surprising for, among other things, the fact that it took so long for so many key people to have a face-to-face meeting.
A year later, it is fair to wonder how much has even changed since then.
“I think we’re definitely closer because I think at that time SSG (Strategic Sports Group) was brand new,” Simpson said in an interview with Sports Illustrated, referring to the private investment made in PGA Tour Enterprises. “They were getting their feet wet.
“I think now there is an understanding more of who he (Al-Rumayyan) is, what he wants, what he’s trying to accomplish with LIV. At least we have a better understanding. On paper, maybe it doesn’t look like we’re any further. I do believe we are.”
And yet, Simpson acknowledged there remain some immense gaps between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF—which backs LIV Golf—in trying to figure out a way to “reunify” men’s professional golf.
The basic chasm appears to be this: What to do with LIV Golf?
If it were up to the PGA Tour side, it would be greatly diminished or perhaps even completely changed. If it were up to the PIF side, it would remain as a 14-event team-based league.
It has also become clear that such extremes on each side are not going to suffice.
Simpson, 39, who has the 2012 U.S. Open and the 2018 Players Championship among his seven PGA Tour victories, has been a member of the Policy Board for more than two years.
“To me, it’s hard to get your mind around the team concept,” Simpson says. “I’ve gotten that feedback from golf fans. You can get your mind around the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup once a year. But the franchise model or Formula 1 model on the PGA Tour … it’s hard to see a future in that.”
What about if the concept were scaled back? That would at least be a move toward compromise.
“I’m not on the transaction committee (which deals directly with the PIF), so I don’t know how Yasir is with other forms of TV golf, where we incorporate PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the LIV tour,” Simpson says. “It’s complicated.
“We’ve presented at least at the board level other team options that aren’t just franchises like they have for the whole year. More like different points on the calendar where there is an appetite for fans to see some type of team stuff. Then it goes back to the idea that the beauty of a team sport is you get behind that team for the season. You ride their highs and lows. Is four times a year really going to work? Will that satisfy what Yasir wants?”
Probably not. Paring LIV Golf down to four events seems too few. Asking to have 14 seems too many.
Which is why the divide still remains large.
Based on various interviews with sources on the PGA Tour side, there is clearly a concern about the LIV model’s financial feasibility. They are aware of the significant losses underwritten by the PIF and wonder how that might change, even with the headwinds alleviated by being associated with the PGA Tour.
But the LIV Golf side certainly does not suggest it is approaching the future any differently. It has continued to hire, expanded offices, announced new CEO Scott O’Neil in January.
While O’Neil has said he is unsure how a deal will impact the future of LIV Golf, he has suggested it won’t change. At a news conference at LIV’s recent event in Singapore, he spoke about the future and growth around the world.
And he used that as a way to downplay one of the often-cited negatives, which is LIV Golf’s poor U.S. television ratings.
“We are different though. We’re a global sports league,” he said. “And so it might not register on traditional rating scales as you might register a U.S. sports league. And we’re quite O.K. with that.
“Especially now that we’re starting to get more and more distribution around the world. We’re getting quite a few viewers in the time zones we are in. Over time, this notion of being the F1 of golf is one I like a lot.
“Other than LIV, F1 is the only truly global sports league. They have teams and we have teams and it’s very different for golf to have a team sport. You’re definitely playing in a premium market like F1 has.”
So while the CEO of LIV is leaning harder into an F1 team system, a PGA Tour board member is questioning it?
And here we are today, seemingly at a place where both sides need to figure out how to meet in the middle.
Asked why there could be such a divide when it appears obvious that there might need to find a middle ground, Simpson again said he’s not part of the transaction committee but acknowledged there are issues.
“It seems like there is a little bit of a breakdown in communication (on the other side),” he says. “On our side, when questions are asked of us, we get answers right away. We’ve been diligent. I don’t now if the same is true on their side. That part has been kind of frustrating.”
Simpson said that the entire point of PGA Tour Enterprises is to make money, leading to equity for the players and bringing a return to the investors. LIV’s format and franchise model complicates that.
“The way I understand it is we are not buying an asset that is going to increase player’s equity,” he says. “What we’re hopefully going to do is bring in another investor that will lead to reunification which will lead to sponsors being more excited about paying for a premium product. The (TV) rights deal coming up in 2030. All those things get healthier. That’s how we grow the business.”
And part of that is having many of the top players competing together again. The four major championships are not part of PGA Tour Enterprises.
“We know what a star Bryson (DeChambeau) is. Or Brooks (Koepka) or Jon Rahm,” Simpson says. “We also know the fans have said a million times they want to see Bryson and Rahm play in the best tournaments. They don’t want to see us at Valspar this week and them at Singapore last week. That’s not good for the game of golf.
“We’re throwing out different ideas of how we incorporate them back in. There’s only a few guys who have any eligibility out here but they’re the best players. And I think the appetite for the average PGA Tour member to see a legitimate path is quicker than maybe we once there. There’s a bigger leniency there. Because player equity gets better (if the best players are together). I think people are over the shock value of (LIV Golf).
“It does seem like we’ve been in the same place for a year. But I think it’s much better.”
And yet, if neither side is willing to compromise, how does that ever occur?
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s news conference at the Players Championship hinted at holding true to what the Tour believes. And it does appear time and some good news has given the Tour some confidence in negotiations.
Simpson concurred.
“Going back to June 6 (the framework agreement announcement in 2023), the golf world, everybody was kind of shell-shocked,” Simpson says. “That lasted for a while and until we kind of understood there is a change in the game. Obviously not great for the PGA Tour. Over time, I think we’ve rebounded. Since December, we’ve had an unbelievable run of new sponsors or re-upping with current sponsors.
“I think we’re way healthier now than we have been. And I think that’s good or helpful in our negotiations with (the PIF). Because we’re in a better spot than we were. I think we’re in a position of strength right now.”
LIV Golf and the British Open
There’s been a good bit of angst emanating from the LIV Golf side due to its lack of Official World Golf Ranking accreditation, thus making it difficult for some very capable players to otherwise qualify for the major championships.
Without OWGR, LIV golfers have a tough time getting into the top 50 (Masters, British Open) and top 60 (U.S. Open). Being in the top 100 has generally meant—but doesn’t guarantee—an invite to the PGA Championship, for which several LIV golfers will undoubtedly be granted.
But there is no denying the huge gift the R&A bestowed upon LIV Golf when it announced early this year that the International Series Macau event in China was to be among its Open Qualifying Series, this one granting spots to the top three finishers not otherwise exempt.
The R&A has traditionally had an Open qualifying venue in Asia, one that may or may not have been ideal for a LIV player. Last year it was the Malaysian Open, part of the regular Asian Tour, but this year that event is not on the schedule.
The International Series is a group of 10 elevated events on the Asian Tour that are funded via LIV Golf Investments. The event in Macau had a $2 million purse with several others in the $2.5 million range, which is typically double the purse of a Korn Ferry Tour event, the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit.
Since the event followed LIV’s tournament in Singapore, it made perfect sense for a bunch of LIV players not in the Open to make the trip to Macau. It’s roughly a three-hour flight. And 18 players from LIV Golf did so.
Here’s why this was such a big nod to LIV Golf: LIV players are automatically exempt into any of the International Series events due to the Asian Tour alliance. And via strokes-gained data for the event, 13 of the top 15 players in the field were from LIV Golf.
No player was previously exempt for this year’s Open at Royal Portrush, and thus it was no surprise that three LIV players came through: winner Carlos Ortiz along with Patrick Reed and Jason Kokrak. Sergio Garcia missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have tied Kokrak and pushed into the Open field based on a better OWGR standing.
While its admirable that so many LIV players made the effort—they’ve not all taken advantage of final qualifying for both the U.S. Open and the Open—it’s also true that it was heavily in their favor. It would be akin to 18 PGA Tour players teeing it up on the Korn Ferry Tour—which has no such qualifying event for the Open. (And PGA Tour players are not allowed to play down on the KFT if they are exempt for that week’s PGA Tour event.)
The Open also exempts five players from the 2025 Federations Rankings List which takes the top player from various tours, such as the Asian Tour. John Catlin, who is a LIV Golf reserve, won the Asian Tour Order of Merit and thus will get in the Open via that category.
Fred Couples and his Masters future
It is hard to envision anyone at Augusta National ever telling Fred Couples he’s no longer welcome to compete in the Masters. But the 1992 champion was concerned enough about the policy that he reached out to club officials to ask.
Couples, 65, a frequent practice round partner in recent years with Tiger Woods, told Golfweek that he wondered if his game was no longer worthy of teeing it up in the first major championship of the year. He shot 80-76 in 2024 a year after becoming the oldest player at age 63 to make the 36-hole cut.
The 15-time PGA Tour winner who is in the World Golf Hall of Fame said he called Augusta National’s Steve Ethun, the Masters tournament officer, to discuss.
“I told Steve two things: first, that I don’t want to embarrass myself. And that I’m certainly not going to embarrass Augusta National,” Couples told Golfweek.
“Steve goes, ‘We already know that. We want you to keep playing.’
“I can’t tell you how much my blood pressure went down,” Couples said.
Couples then called Geroge Dowing, who caddied for him last year at the Masters. “George could hear it in my voice,” Couples said. “He goes, ‘Did you win the lottery?’ I said, ‘No, George. I get to keep playing the Masters.’”
This will be Couples’s 40th Masters, making him one of just three past champions who won in the 1990s who will compete. Bernhard Langer, who won in 1985 and 1993, said this will be his last. Jose Maria Olazabal won in 1994 and 1999.
Couples tied for eighth on Sunday at the Hoag Classic on PGA Tour Champions.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LIV Golf’s Team Concept Is a Problem in Negotiations: 'Hard to Get Your Mind Around'.
