Following the shock announcement of the deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV Golf, it didn’t take long until the question was raised of how players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour would be compensated if those from the newer circuit are allowed to return.
Jimmy Dunne was one of the key figures in brokering the deal, and he has sought to answer that question, saying PGA Tour players who turned down offers from LIV Golf could be given an equity stake in the new company.
Dunne explained to ESPN: “The new [company] would grow, and the [current PGA Tour] players would get a piece of equity that would enhance and increase in value as time went on. “
Players including Rory McIlroy have wondered how such a compensation framework could be implemented. Before beginning the defence of his RBC Canadian Open title, McIlroy was asked whether players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour should be “made whole.” He replied: “I mean, the simple answer is yes. The complex answer is, how does that happen, right? And that’s all, that’s all a gray area and up in the air at the minute.”
Dunne admitted no clear answer had been found yet, saying: “There would have to be some kind of formulaic decision on how to do that. It would be a process to determine what would be a fair mechanism that would be really beneficial to our players.”
The statement announcing the deal confirmed that “a fair and objective process” would be established for any LIV Golf player wishing to return to either the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour at the end of the 2023 season. However, Dunne stated that there would be penalties before they are fully welcome back.
He said: “I think we would form a panel, including Tour players, that would evaluate what the terms would be. Remember, they’re coming back to compete on the Tour, so they have to be confident that they would be good enough to continue to play, and they have to be willing to incur the penalty for having gone.
“Players on the LIV [tour] that wanted to reinstate into the PGA Tour would go through a process [and] suspension. Whatever the penalty was, they’d have to decide whether they wanted to do that or not and then they could play.”
A host of players reportedly turned down huge sums to stay with the PGA Tour, including Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris.
Dunne has also insisted that if PGA Tour CEO Jay Monahan "wants to disband LIV, he can."
