SAN DIEGO — For the first time since the framework agreement was announced, which disclosed the possibility of an alliance with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan spoke with some detailed confidence last week about a deal getting done.
Monahan has typically invoked word-salad responses to questions about the possibility of a deal, offering only tidbits of info that lacked much substance and were certainly short on detail.
But in a media session with reporters at Torrey Pines, Monahan’s tone was far more confident, expressing the belief that unifying the game in the wake of three years of discord after the launch of LIV Golf is far closer.
And yet, there were still unanswered questions, mostly due to Monahan’s most curious statement about “how we achieved what we stated publicly as a goal, which is the game of golf operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that tour.”
One tour?
What does that mean?
LIV Golf, which staged its second event of the year at its most popular venue in Adelaide, Australia, has operated in a manner that suggests it is not going anywhere.
New CEO Scott O’Neil told Australian Golf Digest that he is looking at ways that LIV Golf can invest in the LPGA Tour and perhaps elevate the Australian Open. He talked about the league playing in events in Japan and China. On Saturday, LIV Golf announced the extension of its deal to play in Adelaide through 2031.
So what does “one tour” mean?
Could it mean that LIV Golf would in some way come under the umbrella of PGA Tour Enterprises?
When asked to clarify his comments about one tour, Monahan said: “What it means is the reunification of the game, which is what we have been and are focused on. Candidly, that’s what fans want. So when you talk about reunification, that's all the best players in the world competing with each other and against each other.”
And how do we get there?
That seems to be—in addition to any governmental scrutiny of a PIF deal—the biggest obstacle to an agreement.
There could be a dozen ways it is accomplished, none satisfying to all. Rory McIlroy called for PGA Tour players who remain upset about those who left for LIV Golf to get over it, basically saying for the game to move on that LIV players need to welcomed back in some way. How that occurs remains unclear.
“Listen, I think if you solve things, if we respond to what our fans are telling us, we put together the best, the strongest possible schedule and product, to me all that will resolve itself,” Monahan said. “I think the only thing that really matters to fans and for the game is ultimately reunification. I think everything else falls out of that.”
Asked if he had a clear vision of what the game should look like, Monahan said: “I do, and the details of which we'll be talking about at a future date.”
Then asked how close the Tour and the PIF are to getting a deal—and reunification—finalized, Monahan tapped the brakes: “I don’t think you're ever close until you’re finalized. I would say this: Everything is moving forward with pace and I think there’s a general—when you look at all the parties involved, there’s a general enthusiasm for getting this done.”
Tiger Woods echoed those comments on Sunday in a visit to the CBS broadcast booth.
“We’re in a very positive place right now,” Woods said. “We had a meeting with the President. Unfortunately, I had some other circumstances that came up, but Jay and Adam, they did great during the meeting, and we have another subsequent meeting coming up.
“I think that things are going to heal quickly. We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years and the fans want all of us to play together, all the top players playing together and we’re going to make that happen.”
Monahan and Woods have never sounded so confident about a deal getting done, whatever that deal might entail.
McIlroy, for one, is curious about how the $1.5 billion Strategic Sports Group invested in PGA Tour Enterprises will be used to enhance the product and provide a return.
“They want to see all the best players compete against each other more often,” McIlroy said of SSG. “They also—I think they want to own and operate more of their own tournaments. I’d probably say they would like to see it transition more to like a Formula 1 global model a little bit more.
“But that’s a very hard thing to do. Like there’s been a lot of research and projections done on that and if they went to that global model straight away ... it’s a complicated thing and—but there’s no reason why you can’t bring the media rightsholders back to the table and try to figure something out.”
Those appear to be long-term goals. McIlroy has been a proponent of a “Champions League” style format that might see an enhanced set of tournaments that brings the top players together around the world—similar to European soccer.
But that takes time. And television rights deals. And sponsorship deals.
In the short term, the hope is that there can be some sort of unification next year.
“I think part of this is bringing the DP World Tour in as well as a really big partner of this and (running) a global (tour),” McIlroy said. “You’ve had LIV guys play in a lot of DP World Tour events over the past couple of years. So there’s an opportunity where in ’26 I don’t think it will get all the way there, but I think you’ll start to hopefully a move towards where it could go.”
There is still that pesky matter of what Monahan meant by “one tour.” In the initial aftermath of the framework agreement, the talking points suggested that the PGA Tour would decide LIV Golf’s fate.
But as time has passed and LIV Golf evolved, that has appeared less likely. Just based on LIV’s own actions, it has operated as if it will be around long term. It has planned into next year and beyond. Its robust hiring practices and office expansion do not suggest being diminished.
So is Monahan suggesting that LIV Golf will operate with its current model but within the framework of PGA Tour Enterprises?
The view here has long been that as much as the PGA Tour wants and needs a deal—the financial infusion along with the stability of knowing where everyone stands—so, too, does LIV Golf.
A cooperative situation breaks down barriers and offers a form of validation that LIV Golf is lacking. Instead of vying for sponsors and TV windows, the two sides can collaborate to make it worthwhile for both. In theory, there would be a system where players could compete on both tours. LIV Golf, in turn, has a clearer path to selling its franchises, long viewed as its way to stem the significant losses it has incurred.
Again, there are numerous ways that might happen. McIlroy wonders if LIV Golf should lean even more into its team concept and utilize a format such as it does at its team championship and play fewer individual events.
Perhaps LIV’s schedule is streamlined to play only in international markets where it is clearly more popular.
Again, that is a lot of conjecture.
But something is seemingly happening.
LIV’s big money losses
It should come as no surprise that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which backs LIV Golf—has spent a considerable amount trying to launch LIV Golf over the past four years. While it’s a mere pittance for a portfolio believed to be worth more than $900 billion, the numbers are still staggering.
According to the Money in Sport newsletter (on Substack), LIV Golf will be approaching $5 billion in losses based on financial data filed to the UK government. The assessment included projections and estimates, with reporting numbers not available for LIV Golf’s U.S. operation.
The financials for LIV Golf’s UK arm, which manages all of the league’s operations outside of the U.S., were filed last week. It was for 2023.
Among the notable figures was increased revenue in 2023 from $4.9 million to $37.1 million, with the Australia event providing 45% of the annual total ($16.6 million). The 2024 event was estimated to have in excess of 80,000 spectators for the event and this year’s was said to top 100,000. So LIV Golf clearly was making more money on its most popular tournament in each of the past two years.
But even that points out just how huge of a struggle it is to become profitable or just break even, especially when compared to the PGA Tour.
While there are huge differences in the two—the Tour has more than 40 events, LIV has just 14—there are some big picture ways to compare.
That $16.6 million in revenue that LIV garnered from the 2023 Adelaide event, for example. That is against a $25 million purse, so just there the organization is more than $8 million in the hole. It doesn’t include the buildout of the course, nor the television production costs, which LIV covers and are immense. (The PGA Tour’s production costs are covered by the network, typically with a time buy from the title sponsor covering the majority of it.) Without significant television rights fees and sponsorship, LIV loses a considerable amount every time it plays. And that’s not taking into consideration all of the up-front money it has paid to players.
Take the Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour, a signature event with a $20 million purse. All of the tournaments are different but, generally, a title sponsor pays the Tour in the neighborhood of 120% of the purse, or in this case $24 million.
The Tour also has a $700 million television rights deal with CBS, NBC, Golf Channel and ESPN. It has 42 events (non-majors) and while the TV money is dispersed in a far more complicated manner, for the purposes of this exercise, if you simply divided that by the number of events, it works out to more than $16 million per week.
That means the Tour collects in the neighborhood of $40 million for the Genesis, pays out $20 million to the players and has a good bit left over to cover other costs. The local tournament organizer, in this case the TGR Foundation, covers the setup and build out of the event. It’s how the Tour can amass multi-millions in revenue.
Xander’s return
It has been a difficult start to 2025 for two-time major champion Xander Schauffele. The winner of last year’s PGA Championship and British Open, Schauffele still remains ranked No. 2 behind Scottie Scheffler in the Official World Golf Ranking.
But his only start was at the season-opening Sentry, where he tied for 30th. He played a few days later in the opening night of the indoor simulator TGL, but hasn’t played since.
He was scheduled to play the American Express and had always played his hometown Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. He would have also been expected to play at Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational.
Schauffele said he’s been dealing with a rib injury that got worse in Hawaii. He his hoping to return in two weeks at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“Taking the Genesis off gives me three weeks leading into Bay Hill,” Schauffele said to Golfweek last week. “I want to get as many reps under the belt before the Masters. It would be nice to get the competitive blood flowing a few times before going into a really big event and also have the Players coming up.”
Schauffele said the injury occurred during the offseason. “I thought I’d be fine, so I kept going and played through it at Sentry and at the first TGL match,” he said. “I was pretty much tapped. I knew it was getting significantly worse and needed time off.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as PGA Tour Boss Jay Monahan Says Unifying Golf Means ‘One Tour.’ But What Is That?.
