Fatigue is clearly setting in on golf's stars when it comes to PGA Tour-LIV negotiations
Gene Frenette- PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan offered no details on the status of negotiations with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
- Frustration is growing among players over the lack of progress toward a resolution between the rival leagues.
- Some players, including Rory McIlroy, have expressed that a merger is unnecessary.
- The PGA Tour maintains it will not agree to any deal that weakens its standing.
- Until a final agreement is reached, the future of professional golf remains uncertain.
Commissioner Jay Monahan was unsurprisingly evasive Tuesday when addressing several questions about how Tour negotiations with the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV league were progressing on a potential agreement.
Monahan’s repeated emphasis that he had no intention of sharing details about the talks, including what the specific stumbling blocks might be, didn’t do much to inspire confidence of an impending resolution.
It’s been nearly two years since the Tour and LIV announced a “framework agreement” to merge the Tour, LIV and the DP World Tour, but 21 months have passed and there’s still no sign of a final agreement.
Monahan said the Tour is doing everything it can to push for a “reunification,” but also added “we’re not going to do anything that diminishes the strength of our platform or that momentum that we have with our fans and partners.”
Good intentions aside, it was a lot of corporate speak. The longer this issue remains in limbo, the more it inspires public apathy, and even some fatigue from the players that an agreement is supposed to benefit.
Justin Thomas, the 2021 Players champion and No. 9-ranked player, minced no words about his annoyance over the prolonged negotiations.
“I’m glad I don’t know more or I’m not more invested because I think it would be mentally draining, physically draining,” said Thomas. “It just would be exhausting. Yeah, I think it’s very obvious we all just want to get it resolved, but this is something that’s pretty serious. So it’s not like you or anybody can say, ‘all right, this is what we’re going to do without it being perfect.’
“[Fatigue] definitely has [set in]. I think this is like the third time I’ve played this tournament while this has been going on in some way, shape or form. I think we’re kind of like past the level of exhaustion.”
Last week, before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a brutally honest McIlroy threw cold water on any suggestion that a Tour-LIV resolution was close, saying cryptically: "It takes two to tango." He later said he didn't think the Tour needed an agreement.
Adam Scott, one of the Tour’s player directors, was among those who met with President Trump last month at the White House in an attempt to spur a resolution. He put the Tour-LIV impasse this way: “It’s difficult to find a balance that might be acceptable for everybody.”
Having LIV players Bryson Dechambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka — that league’s highest-profile members among those still in their prime — back competing on Tour would be a welcome sight.
But enough of the blow-by-blow negotiation progress. Get back to us when there’s a final agreement.
Otherwise, LIV and let die.