The news of a merger between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has dominated golf news over the past 18 months, with no deal struck as of yet.
On Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan revealed that talks are "substantial" and "being driven at the top levels of both organizations," but there is still no news as to how a calendar could look with the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.
Obviously, there are many different aspects that need to be matched and, one of those qualified to give their thoughts is Paul McGinley, who has previously sat on the DP World Tour Board, as well as now being an analyst for the Golf Channel. Now, the former Ryder Cup captain has proposed his ideas for unity in the sport.
Paul McGinley's Proposal for Unity
- PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue
- LIV players get unrestricted access to the DP World Tour
- Leading 10 players from LIV get to play in The Players Championship and 5 Signature Events
- LIV gives access to 2 PGA Tour teams for LIV season finale
- PIF matches SSG investment of $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises
Explaining his thoughts, McGinley stated: "The PGA Tour and LIV continue down the different paths they are on at the moment. That's fine, it's quite clear that there's lines in the sand and that's what both want to do in this moment in time."
Essentially, the proposal from McGinley would mean that there would be at least 11 tournaments where the world's best from the circuits would play in the same events together.
"No one Tour is going to absolutely win and no one Tour is going to absolutely lose. You've got to break eggs to make an omelette. I believe that there is some common ground to get the top players in the world coming together 11 times a year," explained McGinley.
"You have the four Major championships, The Players, five Signature Events and LIV's grand finale. That's 11 times and I think that's sufficient. That's what the public would like and that's what the public would want, to see the top players coming together.
"I think there would be wins all-round, particularly commercially and it also ticks the box for the game becoming a little more global rather than being America-centric, particularly with three of the four Majors based over here in America. There's a big, big world out there and it's crying out to see the world's best players."
Looking at both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League calendars, the latter is certainly the more global, with LIV Golf taking place in nine different countries across multiple continents.
Players like Rory McIlroy have called for the game of golf to be more global and, according to McGinley, "(this proposal) is an indirect way to get the best players together more around the world."
He went on to add: "The DP World Tour can be really empowered with the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, coming back more regularly on that Tour.
"Where we are at the moment, it's such a divided world in golf. Somebody has got to give on some side and there's got to be give on both sides to find some common ground."
