PGA Tour has ‘constructive’ meeting with Trump and LIV’s Al-Rumayyan over unification

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The PGA Tour said on Thursday it had a “constructive working session” at the White House with President Donald Trump and LIV Golf Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan on efforts to resolve the schism that exists between the two professional golf bodies.

At the meeting with Trump and Al-Rumayyan, who is also the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that owns LIV Golf, were Tiger Woods and Adam Scott – both player directors on the PGA Tour’s policy board – and Commissioner Jay Monahan.

“We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification,” Monahan, Woods and Scott said in a PGA Tour statement.

“Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans.”

The PGA Tour also said it is committed to moving as quickly as possible and will share additional details later.

After the meeting, Woods, Monahan and Scott joined Trump for a Black History Month event but no significant details of the earlier golf meeting were revealed at the event.

“I’ve always tried to swing just like Adam. It never worked out that way,” said Trump, adding he “had some interesting discussions,” with the golfers.

Trump, an avid golfer who owns a string of golf resorts, has become more deeply involved in trying to end the years-long divide in golf and met at the White House with Monahan and 2013 Masters champion Scott just over two weeks ago.

The PGA Tour said on February 6 that after a meeting with Trump it was closer to reaching a deal with the PIF, the Saudi backers of LIV Golf.

The U.S.-based circuit had said Monahan and Scott met with Trump on February 4 and asked him to get involved in their talks with the PIF.

Woods, a 15-time major winner, has been working with Scott and Monahan on the issue but missed the initial meeting because his mother had died recently.

LUCRATIVE PURSES

LIV Golf attracted some of the world’s top golfers after it was founded in 2021. The best players from both LIV and the PGA Tour only compete against each other at golf’s four majors.

LIV Golf, which features no-cut, 54-hole events, held its inaugural event in June 2022, and through mega-money contracts and lucrative purses has since lured a number of golf’s biggest names, including major champions Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.

After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, PIF and Europe-based DP World Tour announced a framework agreement in June 2023 to house their commercial operations in a new entity and set December 31 of that year as a deadline to reach a definitive agreement.

That announcement brought an end to legal battles between the parties but raised concerns in Washington from lawmakers who are mistrustful of Saudi Arabia and critical of the country’s human rights record.

The sides extended the deadline and as talks with the PIF dragged on, outside investor interest in the PGA Tour heated up by way of Strategic Sports Group, which invested an initial $1.5 billion into the for-profit entity PGA Tour Enterprises.

LIV Golf has played at courses owned by Trump since its inception and will do so again in 2025 with its April 4-6 event scheduled to be held at Trump National Doral in Miami.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Deepa Babington and Muralikumar Anantharaman)