The return of the Masters in April has come to mean more than just the start of golf’s major season for many ardent fans.
Since the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in 2021, the professional side of the men’s sport has been enveloped by a divisive rift which has seen many of the game’s biggest stars competing on two rival tours.
As such, the annual spring pilgrimage to Augusta National has come to represent a week of healing for the game, as all the best players come back together for the first time in the calendar year.
There had been hopes that the game would have reunited by now given a framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV, was first announced back in June 2023.
But almost two years on, a finalised agreement to end golf’s civil war still remains elusive.
Enter Donald Trump. The American President, no stranger to hyperbole, suggested before his re-election in November that he would need just 15 minutes to help both sides thrash out a deal.
Reality, though, has proved a tad more complicated.
Hopes for the Trump administration
It had been hoped that Trump’s electoral victory would prove a pivotal moment in helping to push a deal between the PIF and the PGA Tour over the line.
After all, with Joe Biden in charge, progress over a potential deal had become bogged down by an anti-trust investigation from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
‘The Biden administration had a stated priority of worker empowerment and applied that priority somewhat non discriminately,’ Jodi Balsam, sports law professor at Brooklyn Law School, told Metro.
‘And so in this case, they began siding with the idea that millionaire golfers should have multiple opportunities beyond the PGA Tour to ply their trade and having, therefore, some scepticism about a partnership between LIV and the PGA Tour.’
The early signs from Trump, meanwhile, were promising. The 78-year-old, a keen golfer who has business ties with both LIV and Saudi Arabia, suggested any deal between both parties would get only a cursory review from the DOJ.
He even helped broker a meeting at the White House in February with key members from both sides such as PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Tiger Woods.
But while those talks were heralded as ‘constructive’ by the PGA Tour, there has been little in the way of progress toward reconciliation between both sides in the following two months.
So what’s gone wrong?
Trump has not changed his tune on a deal between both sides. Speaking before LIV’s most recent event in Miami – held at his course in Doral – the President said he was still ‘hopeful the two tours are going to merge’.
The problem, therefore, lies with the two rival tours who still appear some distance apart on several key issues. There is the problem of how to reintegrate LIV players back onto the PGA Tour but, perhaps crucially, still no clarity on what LIV’s future would look like should the PIF invest in the PGA Tour.
The breakaway tour has attracted many star names with lucrative signing fees but has struggled to attract sizeable viewing figures let alone turn itself into a profitable business entity.
Who are the biggest names who joined LIV Golf?
Phil Mickelson: Seen as a key figure behind the formation of the Saudi breakaway circuit, Mickelson was one of the first big names to throw his support behind LIV Golf as a disruptor in men’s elite golf.
The six-time major winner reportedly received a $200 million (£156m) signing bonus when he joined in June 2022.
Jon Rahm: Perhaps the most shocking defection to LIV came in the way of Rahm who had long been a vocal critic of the Saudi-backed tour.
However, in December 2023, the then-ranked World No.3 joined LIV as part of a mind-boggling $300m (£234m) deal which made him the highest paid sportsman in the world ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James.
Bryson DeChambeau: The swashbuckling, big-hitting American was another early defector to LIV in June 2022, reportedly receiving a $125m (£98m) fee to leave behind the PGA Tour.
Since then, DeChamambeau has seen his popularity and following skyrocket, while also claiming his second career major at last year’s US Open.
‘It’s kind of an open secret that LIV’s viewership numbers are not improving, despite them spending billions of dollars on high profile stars and a TV deal,’ sports law attorney John Nucci said, speaking to Metro.
‘The longer that goes on, the less influence and the less leverage they have in these negotiations. The PGA Tour isn’t going to be keen to just give the PIF all sorts of veto rights when the product that they’re bringing in now is fairly weak.
‘I think the landscape has shifted a little bit, which is probably why this is continuing to drag on so much. The PGA Tour is probably now digging in a little more and saying, ‘We’re not giving you all of these things that you initially wanted, and that we were willing to give you two years ago’.’
Where do we go next?
Without any tangible progress towards an agreement between both parties, Trump’s ability to impact proceedings is somewhat limited.
Recent reports suggested a PIF proposal to invest $1.5bn (£1.14bn) in the PGA Tour was swiftly rejected due to the excessive concessions demanded by the Saudi investment fund.
‘The obstacle here is that everybody involved in the world of professional golf sees LIV Golf as a pawn, but Al-Rumayyan thinks he’s playing with the queen,’ Balsam said.
Who are the biggest stars still on the PGA Tour?
Tiger Woods: While his ageing body and persistent struggles with injuryhave hampered his ability to compete in recent years, Woods remains far and away the biggest name in professional golf.
The American has won 82 times on the PGA Tour but has not teed it up in competition since last summer’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Rory McIlroy: The current World No.2 may not have won a major since 2014, but has continued to be one of the biggest and most consistent players on the PGA Tour.
The Northern Irishman has been the most vocal critic of LIV since its inception, even suggesting he would rather retire than compete on the Saudi-backed tour even if it ‘was the last place on Earth to play golf’.
Scottie Scheffler: The American has been World No.1 for close to 100 weeks now, a clear indicator of his relentless consistency and supreme ball-striking ability.
Scheffler, a two-time major champion, heads into this week’s Masters as the defending champion after his superb final-round performance at Augusta National last year.
‘He has now spent $5 billion of his monarch’s money with no real prospect of progress towards generating any return on that investment. But despite that, he’s not ready to give up on LIV entirely which has stifled a deal.’
And as time has gone on, even ardent supporters of reunification, such as World No.2 Rory McIlroy, have suggested that a deal is no longer essential for the PGA Tour.
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‘I think the narrative around golf would welcome a deal in terms of just having all the best players together again. But I don’t think the PGA Tour needs a deal,’ McIlroy said last month. ‘I think our momentum is pretty strong.’
What remains clear, however, is that Trump is unlikely to stand in the way if any agreement is reached. Any potential merger would require a filing under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act due to the huge sums of money involved, but Trump’s administration is under no obligation to review that filing or scrutinise the deal.
‘We live in this little bubble of golf, but realistically, if Trump wants to throw a bone to an international ally in Saudi Arabia by rubber stamping and passing along a deal like this, then he may well do that,’ Nucci added.
And so, with Trump still ready to roll out the red carpet for golf’s reunification, it would appear that the sport and its powerbrokers are the only ones standing in the way.
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