This tidbit was shared by Tom Watson Thursday morning when he and fellow honorary starters Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were asked about the continuing schism in men’s professional golf between LIV and the PGA Tour, and whether or not golf needed reunification.

“The one thing I do know,” Watson said, “is that Scottie Scheffler in his speech at the past champions dinner on Tuesday night said, ‘I’m glad we’re all together again.’ So the players would like to get together.”

As elder statesmen in the game, the trio undoubtedly have opinions worth soliciting, even if they are not immersed in the tour to the degree they once were. The exception, of course, might be Nicklaus, who hosts a PGA Tour event annually, the Memorial Tournament, in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Furthermore, Nicklaus was a major figure in the creation of the tour in 1968 when players banded together and broke from the PGA of America.

By and large, the legends, who have 11 Masters titles among them, did not sound optimistic.

“I think the LIV pushed the PGA Tour into doing some things that were a little premature for the PGA Tour. But the PGA Tour is doing fine,” Nicklaus said. “I think they’ve changed their structure; the players now own a piece of what’s going on. I think their plan of … elevated events and their plan of bringing young players along in the other tournaments has been very successful. We’re making new stars for the game. Would I love to see them all come together? Sure, I think we all would. But I think the PGA Tour is the tour where most of your good players are, and I think it’s very healthy no matter which way it goes.”

Currently, talks are not going anywhere. It has been nearly two years since the tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia struck a deal on a framework agreement to merge the two tours. Recently, however, after some encouraging signs, the antagonists seem further apart after the tour turned down a $1.5 billion investment offer from PIF, which financially underpins LIV. So for the time being, golf continues on with two competing tours.

“I think anytime in life, and getting closer to 90 now, you realise that confrontation is a terrible thing,” Player said. “Confrontation and forgiveness [are] very important. All I can say is that they [LIV players] have chosen to do that, and that’s their choice. And that’s their tour, and we have our tour. … It would be wonderful if they could get together. Whether they will or not, time will tell.”

“I concur with Gary,” Watson said. “They made their choice to play their own tour, and that’s where they are right now. I don’t see a real working mechanism for the two tours to get back together. I think that’s one of the reasons you haven’t seen an agreement, as you said, since June two years ago.

“It’s really up to the powers that be to see if there’s a framework in which the two tours can cooperate. I don’t see that framework happening,” Watson added. “Maybe they’re smarter people than I am, but the key element of the PGA Tour, the one thing that is required of you is to get permission to play in a competing tournament—the conflicting event rule. That’s there to protect the sponsors of our PGA Tour so that the fields are not depleted of all the good players as they go and play other tournaments. That’s the main requirement.

“Over the years, I got special exemptions, maybe twice a year, once a year, got permission of the tour to be able to compete in a tournament that’s opposite the PGA Tour, and that’s the reason. I don’t see that the two tours can get together.”

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There’s already a lot to talk about this week in the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf as the players from both circuits reunite for the Masters in the top players’ first tournament together since last July’s Open Championship.

Before the first ball is struck, the American-based tour can claim a runaway win.

Despite the PGA Tour’s TV ratings on NBC for the Valero Texas Open being 20 percent down this year for Brian Harman’s win, compared to Akshay Bhatia’s victory a year ago, it still drew more than four times the viewers on Sunday compared to Marc Leishman’s victory in LIV Golf Miami on Fox. It was a decisive win for the PGA Tour in the first time the two tours were going head-to-head on broadcast TV.

According to Sports Business Journal, the Texas Open averaged 1.75 million viewers—260 percent higher than LIV’s average of 484,000 for its 2025 U.S. opener after the first four events were played overseas. This, despite the event in San Antonio featuring only one of the world’s top-10 players, Maverick McNealy, among the contenders. Chasing Leishman early on Sunday were major winners Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel.

According to SBJ, the PGA Tour outperformed LIV by a wider margin on Saturday—1.583 million on NBC to 137,000 on Fox Sports 1. On Thursday and Friday, the PGA Tour drew averages of 327,000 and 318,000, respectively on Golf Channel, while LIV’s first round Friday on Fox got 369,000—marking the one day it did better.

SBJ reported that LIV’s Miami numbers did exceed its previous all-time best of 432,000 for the 2024 season opener on The CW. For comparison, SBJ said that in the same Sunday window a year ago, Fox drew 205,000 viewers for an MLS match (Timbers-Sporting K.C.) and 849,000 viewers for a UFL game (Roughnecks-Defenders).

LIV’s deal with Fox has put the fourth-year league on a major U.S. network for the first time, and the league’s new CEO, Scott O’Neil, recently acknowledged, in an interview with the Palm Beach Post, the importance of seeing good TV numbers.

“Is this weekend important? Of course, it is,” O’Neil said ahead of Miami. “This one is important in the U.S., for the U.S. broadcast, and it’s on Fox, and that’s an exciting opportunity. Judge me this week, for sure.”

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Talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have hit another impasse, raising questions if professional golf’s cold war is about to heat up. But, as witnessed in Tuesday’s practice round at Augusta National, least one schism-related beef has been put to bed.

Last month, former Masters champ Fred Couples asserted on a radio show that one of LIV’s marquee attractions was not long for the Saudi-backed circuit. “I talk to Brooks Koepka all the time. I love Brooks Koepka, and I’m not going to say anything extra except I talked to him all the time,” Couples said in a radio interview on KJR 93.3 FM in Seattle before adding a bit more that started speculation about Koepka’s status on LIV Golf. “He wants to come back. I will say that I believe he really wants to come back and play the tour.” Couples has not been shy of throwing the occasional haymaker at the defector league, although this one was not unfounded. There have been rumors of Koepka’s interest in a return for years, and Koepka hasn’t exactly been the biggest advocate of LIV has of late, saying as recently as last week that he thought the league would be further along than it is. Even at the 2023 Masters, after Koepka returned from the competitive wilderness, the bruiser admitted that—had he known his physicality would be revived after fearing his body had betrayed him—he didn’t know if he would have left for LIV.

Still, Koepka was quick to dismiss Couples’ remarks.

“I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does,” Koepka said at LIV’s Singapore event. “Right now I’m just focused on how do I play better? How do I play better in the majors, how does this team win? And then we’ll figure out next year and how to play better again. It’s the same thing. It’s just a revolving cycle.

“Yeah, Fred texted me after, I guess, the comments came out,” he continued. “I don’t know when it was. Sometime last week. Yeah, everybody seems to have their own opinion, and no one asks me. I talk to Fred quite a bit, but we don’t go too much into detail about what’s going on. Like I’ve said before, I’m not in those rooms. I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Which is why it was interesting at the Masters on Tuesday that Koepka and Couples played their practice rounds together, with Justin Thomas and Adam Scott rounding out the foresome.

Speaking after the round, Couples explained how he and Koepka have been planning this session for a couple weeks.

“Brooks and I were going to play and then Tiger and JT and I always play, so when Tiger couldn’t, I called JT and then Adam Scott and I had talked, so we got a nice little foursome,” Couples said. “And then Brooks and I wanted to play a few more and the course is awesome, so it was nice to go play 1, 2, 8, and 9, too. But it was a great foursome. These guys all hit it amazing. And then to meet Nick Hardy the last couple holes was fun too.”

Couple clarified that after the comments came out that he and Brooks discussed the headlines, and maintains that he and Brooks are good.

“A lot of times at Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups I sit with Brooks and his wife and my wife. I love Brooks,” Couples said. “Basically what I said was is what everyone else is saying, but then someone else turned it into like I wanted him to leave the LIV Tour and come play the PGA Tour. I just basically said, you know, Brooks would like to play the PGA Tour; not leave the LIV Tour.

“So anyway, he and I are great. We had a good time. We talked basically a little bit about his brother and then we were talking little bit about clubs. He just hits it so far and he hits it so solid. But basically it was a one-minute thing, but I had already talked to him before. And he’s a good man. I like Brooks.”

As one of the negotiators between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia, Scott’s presence in the group is notable. Given that Thomas and Couples are close friends with Woods, who’s leading these talks, Koepka’s inclusion might seem worthy of analysis. But that is a discussion for another day.

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Speaking Tuesday at the TPC Sawgrass ahead of this week’s Players Championship, Monahan opened his annual state of the tour address by giving an update on the discussions with LIV Golf’s financial back, stating reunification with those who defected to Saudi-backed circuit remains his priority. However, as Golf Digest detailed last week, both sides have hit a roadblock in trying to finalise a detail, a sentiment Monahan nodded to by mentioning “when you may be near a breakthrough, there are ebbs and flows in the discussion.” While Monahan was quick to say both sides are operating from a place of respect, the commissioner was adamant he would not accept anything that would harm the existing tour product.

“We will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners,” Monahan said. “So while we’ve removed some hurdles, others remain. But like our fans, we still share the same sense of urgency to get to a resolution.”

Monahan has met with President Donald Trump twice in the past month regarding a deal, including at a White House summit with PIF governor and LIV Golf boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan. There was some belief in golf circles that the D.C. meeting would deliver a formal announcement of a deal. Earlier in February at Torrey Pines, Monahan had conveyed optimism about professional golf unifying under one tour, while Tiger Woods (who is part of the discussions) went so far as to signal a deal was imminent. However, as Golf Digest reported, the sides are currently at an impasse, with most of the hold-up centered around the role (if any) LIV Golf will play in the future of the tour. Multiple sources told Golf Digest that Al-Rumayyan left the meeting both disappointed at the talks and frustrated with what he perceived as a disrespectful offer.

Publicly and privately, Monahan continues to push for a deal. He is wary of the fatigue from fans about the schism, and has also preached the danger of continuing to war with PIF. The tour’s private equity partners, the Strategic Sports Group, are in favor of a deal. Conversely, though PIF has vast resources at its disposal, PIF also is under a mandate to curtail some of its expenses. LIV has already burned upwards of $5 billion on the fledgling venture; to those that view LIV Golf as an exercise in sportswashing and soft-power, LIV has succeeded, giving the kingdom direct access to the White House. With that mission accomplished, LIV Golf’s success as its own vehicle warrants further scrutiny. Now in its fourth year of existence, LIV continues to struggle to gain traction with the golf populace. Though the league signed an American broadcast deal with FOX Sports, ratings have been soft, and for the second time in three years LIV failed to extract a marquee player from the PGA or DP World Tours. In short, there’s the question of what leverage LIV has at the moment. In his opening remarks, Monahan spoke about assimilating some aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour product. However, in Golf Digest’s reporting, LIV’s team element remains a sticking point. When pressed by Digest and other reporters on exactly what exactly the tour is interested in, Monahan repeatedly declined to get into specifics.

“I think I’ve shared our position today,” Monahan said. “I’ve shared it in the past. I think at this point I don’t have any additional information to share beyond. What I’m optimistic about, what I’m energized by specifically is the momentum that we have with our fans, and I would go back to three elements of the remarks that I made. I’d say from point one, we’re committed to these negotiations and to doing everything that we can to drive to reunification for our fans. That said, 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. And then importantly, we’re going to continue to take aggressive action with everything that we control to make certain that we’re doing everything in our power to present and evolve the best version of our tour. So that’s how we’re looking at the future and that’s really my focus.”

As Golf Digest reported last week, on the wish list for the tour brass is the reassimilation of three players: Jon Rahm (coveted for competitive integrity), Bryson DeChambeau (valued for commercial magnetism) and Brooks Koepka (a nod to his dominance at major championships). Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann are also a priority, albeit to lesser degrees. What other implementations from LIV the tour could implement are unclear.

After a half-dozen reiterations of not getting into specifics, Monahan was asked what would theoretically damage the tour product.

“Listen, all I can speak to is, you know, if you look at the PGA Tour today and the strength of our organization, the momentum that we have as an organization and what we stand for, I mean ultimately if you’re a player anywhere in the world, this is the platform that you want to get to. These tournaments are 72-hole stroke play tournaments at historic, iconic venues, with moments like we had last Sunday with Russell Henley and his family. That’s who we are as an organization, and that’s who we’ll always be as an organisation.”

Monahan said there are no further plans for an in-person meeting with Trump or Al-Rumayyan at the moment, and that there is no deadline for a deal to be in place.

“I think it’s just not that simple,” Monahan said. “When you’re in the middle of these negotiations and they’re as complex as they are, you know, the reason I say ‘urgency’ is that that’s what we’re operating with, but there isn’t a concrete deadline that’s been established.”

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