In a press release, LIV Golf named Gene Davis and Jon Zinman to lead the new board, citing them as “seasoned experts with proven track records for navigating complex situations and unlocking value for global organisations.” Al-Rumayyan is not named in the release, but multiple outlets have confirmed Al-Rumayyan is out and a source familiar with the matter confirmed the same to Golf Digest.

The release noted that LIV was in the midst of a transition “from a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.” It did not specifically mention PIF’s decision to no longer support the golf endeavour that it has financials since the league’s inception.

Al-Rumayyan’s departure closes a nearly five-year run atop a league he originated. LIV Golf was an offshoot of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030—a blueprint to diminish the country’s reliance on oil by diversifying the economy and modernising its public services. Al-Rumayyan, part of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle, wanted to grow golf participation in Saudi Arabia and develop a national team and elite players, along with big-picture items, such as developing courses to aid tourism and hosting professional competitions.

He began hosting the Saudi International on the DP World Tour in 2019, but Golf Saudi’s larger attempts to enter the golf’s ecosystem were rebuffed. The DP World Tour turned down a larger sponsorship proposal, and the PGA Tour refused to listen to various business overtures. After initially providing backing to the proposed Premier Golf League, Golf Saudi spun out its own league, LIV Golf, a breakaway tour built on shotgun starts, team franchises, music on the course and nine-figure signing bonuses.

The first LIV event was held at Centurion Club in England in June 2022. By the end of that summer, the league had signed Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio García, Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith. At the opening event, Al-Rumayyan made news when he said he would pay a $54 million bonus to any player who shot a 54 at a LIV event.

Al-Rumayyan’s most consequential move came on June 6, 2023, when PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour announced a framework agreement to merge under a new commercial entity. Al-Rumayyan was to be installed as chairman of that entity, with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan as CEO. It later came out, during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., that Al-Rumayyan was pushing for a membership at Augusta National as part of the agreement.

However, the deal never closed in the form announced. Negotiations stalled, restarted and were eventually sidelined for good after a White House meeting in the spring of 2025 with Al-Rumayyan, PGA Tour officials and President Donald Trump went sideways. Brian Rolapp, who became PGA Tour CEO last summer, has publicly stated the tour is not pursuing a deal with LIV.

PIF invested more than $5 billion into the LIV property. Prior to LIV’s third season, Al-Rymayyan was able to pry away reigning Masters champ Jon Rahm to give LIV a shot of formidability. However, the on-course product never found a sustained American audience. Television ratings remained low across LIV’s broadcast partnerships, first on the CW and later on Fox Sports. Attendance at domestic events was uneven outside of a handful of stops. The league drew larger crowds in Adelaide and in markets such as South Africa and Mexico City, but failed to convert star power into the cultural foothold in the U.S. that PIF’s spending was designed to purchase. O’Neil has acknowledged that LIV may not reach profitability for another decade.

Al-Rumayyan rarely spoke on the record and almost never held press conferences, becoming a kind of shadow presence in the sport—the man on the other end of every rumored deal, the one whose checkbook everyone was waiting on. The checkbook is now closing. In April, PIF announced a new 2026-2030 strategy that signaled a reevaluation of its priorities, with the fund refocused on domestic efforts while facing mounting commitments to World Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. LIV Golf was noticeably absent from the PIF’s future endeavors during the announcement.

Al-Rumayyan remains governor of PIF, where he oversees a portfolio worth more than $925 billion, and continues to chair Saudi Aramco, Ma’aden, Newcastle United and Riyadh Air. His position within Saudi Arabia’s economic apparatus is unchanged.

Davis is the head of PIRINATE Consulting Group, a firm specialising in restructuring/governance issues, turn-around management, liquidation and sale management, merger and acquisition consulting, hostile and friendly takeovers, proxy contests and strategic planning advisory services for public and private business entities. Zinman is the founder and managing member of JZ Advisors, an independent strategic advisory firm serving companies across industry and life cycle, typically engaging at a time of transformation with a focus on maximising the company’s go-forward growth potential.

According to LIV’s release, the league’s “conviction in the Team Golf model has never been stronger.” The league from its inception has thought its path to profitability was through the sale of its 13-team franchises and that appears to be a fundamental platform of any new business model moving forward.

LIV Golf Virginia is set for May 7-10 at Trump National in Washington, D.C., followed by stops in South Korea and Spain before the U.S. Open. On Tuesday, however, the league postponed its inaugural New Orleans event, originally scheduled for June 25-28 at Bayou Oaks at City Park, after O’Neil informed Louisiana officials that LIV intended to push the date back amid what the state described as a changing business model.

O’Neil had previously said LIV is fully funded through the current season and has described the 2026 calendar as proceeding “full throttle.” A source told Golf Digest that the league is expected announced new board members on Thursday. On Wednesday, Golf Digest reported that several agents for LIV players have reached out to the tour regarding a return.

Whether the league outlasts that timeline, and whether it does so in any form recognizable to the one Al-Rumayyan built, are now questions for the executives he is leaving behind.

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Shortly following the surprise proposed deal to end professional golf’s civil war, representatives for the tour and PIF were called before a Senate hearing in July of 2023 and had to provide all records and communications between the two entities. According to Senator Richard Blumenthal, the deal raised “concerns about the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution.” The inquiry into PIF’s golf interest expanded into Saudi Arabia’s increasing commercial investments in the United States. While the PGA Tour sent COO Ron Price and former policy board member Jimmy Dunne to the hearing, PIF declined to participate.

Among the golf items in Friday’s report was the assertion that PIF only began talking with the tour after it became clear it PIF and its officials would have to testify about PIF’s business dealings.

“The Subcommittee’s inquiry revealed that the first significant back and forth about a potential agreement between the PIF and the PGA Tour began with a renewed push from a representative of the PIF to broker a deal on April 14, 2023, and that a key term of the initial Framework Agreement entered into by the PIF and the PGA Tour involved the dismissal, with prejudice, of pending litigation between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour,” the report stated. “On April 7, 2023, a judge in the Northern District of California had ruled in that litigation that the PIF and its Governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, were subject to discovery and depositions by lawyers for the PGA Tour. This deposition would likely have revealed details of the PIF’s operations and Governor al-Rumayyan’s control over its commercial investments.”

One of the more overlooked aspects of the framework agreement stated that LIV Golf’s antitrust lawsuit against the tour and the tour’s countersuit would be dismissed within 10 days. Just as crucially, the provision stated that neither side could refile such lawsuits in the future.

This claim is part of PSI’s warning that “U.S. defenses are inadequate to protect against increasingly sophisticated foreign influence efforts by Saudi Arabia and other malign actors and exposed loopholes within the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) that allow foreign governments to escape accountability.”

“My PSI investigation is a call to action—supporting strong reforms for disclosure by foreign actors,” said Blumenthal. “Our report reveals how present laws may enable foreign influence without transparency. Very simply, our present defenses do not protect against increasingly sophisticated threats. While the Trump Administration rolls back deterrents against foreign influence and seeks investments from our adversaries, I am calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to immediately step up enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and support my Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency Act.”

The news comes six weeks after President Donald Trump hosted representatives from the PGA Tour—including commissioner PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott—along with al-Rumayyan at the White House to discuss potential reunification in professional golf. However, the meeting did not produce a formalised agreement. Earlier this month, PIF, which serves as the financial backer to LIV Golf, maintained its offer to invest in the newly created for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. However, the proposal came with the provision that LIV Golf, in some capacity, would continue in the future professional golf landscape, and that Al-Rumayyan would be co-chair of PGA Tour Enterprises.

Sources familiar with the matter have told Golf Digest that the tour has asserted it is not interested in a team golf element—a message that was delivered at the White House meeting. When the original framework agreement between the tour and PIF was announced on June 6, 2023, Al-Rumayyan was designated as the chairman of for-profit endeavor (called “NewCo” at the time), although the tour has shifted its position following the $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group. Joe Gorder, a former head of Valero Energy, is chairman of the Enterprises board.

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When Rahm defected to LIV Golf in December 2023, he stood at golf’s pinnacle. His four-win season featured a second major championship and first Masters victory, alongside a dominant Ryder Cup performance—achievements that fulfilled his immense promise and cemented his status as one of his generation’s alphas. His departure to the Saudi-backed circuit seemingly marked an inflection point in professional golf’s civil war. Because, while “narrative” seems insufficient, the reality was clear: LIV Golf’s roster was associated with controversial figures and funded by a regime with documented human rights concerns. Rahm’s arrival offered the league a universally respected figure and one of golf’s most principled voices. Moreover, by adding one of the sport’s premier talents—directly countering criticism that they merely attracted fading stars and unfulfilled prospects—they acquired something far more valuable: competitive legitimacy.

That was the belief. In truth, Rahm’s defection has failed to transform LIV’s identity. This past week should have been LIV’s vocal rebuttal to its detractors; the Miami event featured household names atop the leaderboard, secured its inaugural Fox broadcast, faced virtually no competing programming, even hosted the President of the United States in attendance—yet catastrophically failed to attract even half a million viewers. Beyond Rahm’s high-profile move, not a single marquee player has left for LIV in the past three years. For all its proclamations and limitless financial resources, LIV Golf remains nothing more than the most extravagantly expensive member-guest exhibition ever staged—a soft-power exercise disguised as a sports league.

What has changed is how Rahm is perceived. His sterling reputation has been tarnished. There will be some that find it impossible to reconcile his “good guy” image with his partnership with a regime known for human rights abuses. Equally damaging was his repeated insistence he would never leave the PGA Tour only to do the opposite. What also remains uncertain is Rahm’s standing as a competitor. On the surface, he appears to be the same methodical player with his comprehensive, measured approach—producing rounds that might seem deliberate but display masterful control. He remains that exceptional talent who inevitably draws comparisons not to contemporaries but to the past, forever measured against his countryman Seve Ballesteros, a hard shadow to escape. Statistically, he maintains his form—claiming two LIV victories and the season-long individual championship last year.

Yet these achievements come against a field with legitimate competitive questions against it, making their significance impossible to gauge. We’re left with only a handful of weeks of undisputed competition to assess his true standing. And in those critical major championships—where Rahm once dominated—his silence speaks volumes. He finished T-45 in his Masters defense last year, missed the cut at the PGA Championship and withdrew from the U.S. Open due to a foot injury. He was just outside the mix at the Open, registering a T-7 finish, and contended at the Olympics. Alas, Rahm fell apart down the final stretch, which—thanks to a surge by Scottie Scheffler—saw the Spainard leave Paris without a medal.

Among the golf cognoscenti, Rahm remains in that conversation as one of the game’s best, there with Scheffler, McIlroy and Schauffele. As Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have proved, LIVers can still be formidable in the rare times this split golf world comes together. Still, given what he used to do, to what he did last year, it’s fair to wonder if competitive atrophy—if being placated by hundreds of millions—have done anything to Rahm’s bite.

That is admittedly an unfair barometer—four weeks being weighed against an entire year—yet that is the Faustian bargain Rahm has agreed to … and frankly, one other stars also face. (See: McIlroy, Rory.) But at least with McIlroy and Scheffler, we have some understanding of what their results mean. With Rahm, who has finished inside the top 10 of every LIV event this year, we have a generational talent toiling in obscurity. The subject was broached on Tuesday, with a media member asking what we should make of Rahm’s 2025 thus far.

Icon Sportswire

“I don’t know how to say anything else,” Rahm said. “Consistency is something that I’ve always prided myself on. I think last year the state of my game was being unfairly judged based on how I played here and at the PGA compared to how I really played throughout the whole year.

“While I understand why, I don’t think it was the most fair state of my game. It’s something—top 10 statistics is something I’ve always prided myself on. Right before joining LIV, I think I was still close to 50 percent worldwide in all my starts finishing top 10, which is something I pride myself on, and to keep it going that way is not easy. Now, I would say I would definitely trade a few of those—take a few of them away and hopefully add a couple more W’s. That would be nice because not in all of them I had a chance to win, and at the end of the day, that’s a goal.”

Perhaps that’s what Rahm believes to be true, but it’s hard to convince a golf populace that what you’re doing matters when it’s in a league people think doesn’t. Given that PGA Tour’s discussions with PIF have seemed to cool, it doesn’t look like Rahm’s predicament is ending anytime soon.

This week presents Rahm a chance to reclaim his story and prove he remains the competitor we once revered. Yet should he capture Masters title, the subsequent return to LIV’s inferior competition will only rekindle golf purists’ heartache—a different anguish than that inspired by Koepka or DeChambeau’s defections. Koepka never disguised his indifference toward non-major events, while DeChambeau’s pursuit of personal celebrity eclipses his commitment to golf’s greater good.

Rahm represented something bigger—an intellectual force whose veneration for golf’s traditions complemented his talent. In a professional landscape too often characterised by privilege and detachment, he had distinguished himself through his thoughtfulness and perspective. Therein lies the paradox of what Rahm decided to do: he possessed the wisdom to comprehend the ramifications of his choice—both for himself and the game he professed to cherish, yet proceeded anyway. That’s why it’s hard to square who Rahm is; we thought we knew, and we thought he did, too.

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Augusta National Golf Club is a tradition-bound bastion of influence whose members comprise this country’s corporate, political and financial elite, and whose championship, the Masters, stands as American golf’s most prestigious event, wielding an unparalleled gravitational pull over the sport’s trajectory and future. Augusta National is also notoriously furtive about itself and its actions, operating with a level of privacy comparable to the Pentagon. That’s the thing about outlandish theories: They thrive in precisely the kind of environments that Augusta has meticulously cultivated for generations. These shadows exist where transparency ends and human pattern-seeking begins, connecting dots that may or may not exist but collectively form an irresistible narrative that explains the otherwise inexplicable. Did Augusta National orchestrate the deal with the tour and Saudis?—a perfect storm of mystery, power, and plausible deniability that leaves even skeptics wondering what truly happened.

• • •

Like any formidable mystery, there is a trail of tantalising breadcrumbs. In their explosive opening legal salvo against the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and nine other LIV Golf defectors alleged in a meticulously documented antitrust lawsuit that Augusta National and Masters chairman Fred Ridley actively collaborated with the tour to arrange a coordinated campaign designed to dissuade players from joining the Saudi-backed circuit. Filed in August 2022, the plaintiffs wrote:

“Augusta National, the promoter of The Masters, has taken multiple actions to indicate its alignment with the PGA Tour, thus seeding doubt among top professional golfers whether they would be banned from future Masters Tournaments. As an initial matter, the links between the PGA Tour and Augusta National run deep. The actions by Augusta National indicate that the PGA Tour has used these channels to pressure Augusta National to do its bidding. For example, in February 2022, Augusta National representatives threatened to disinvite players from The Masters if they joined LIV Golf.”

The complaint further revealed that the PGA Tour urged Augusta National officials to attend a PGA Tour Advisory Council meeting in May 2022, shortly after the formal launch of the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The suit said officials did attend and “they informed the golfers in attendance that the PGA Tour and Augusta National had agreed to work together to address LIV Golf. As described above, the threat of exclusion from the Masters (and the other Majors) is a powerful weapon in the Tour’s arsenal to deter players from joining LIV Golf.”

The claim goes further with this reference to behind-the-scenes actions from Ridley: “In addition, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley personally instructed a number of participants in the 2022 Masters not to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Plainly, these threats to top players served no beneficial purpose, as they would only serve to weaken the field in the Masters.” This allegation suggested not merely institutional alignment but direct personal involvement by Ridley (and who he represented) to strangle the fledgling league in its infancy.

Further cementing the pattern of apparent coordination, the plaintiffs noted that Ridley summarily declined a request from LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to meet and formally discuss the launch of the series and its business model. Perhaps most tellingly, the lawsuit highlights a suspicious temporal connection: Mickelson’s formal suspension from the PGA Tour came the day immediately following the three-time Masters winner’s name being removed from the tournament’s 2022 field.

Fred Ridley has been chairman of Augusta National since 2017. Andrew Redington

Around the same time as the lawsuits, the club became entangled with the Department of Justice—a dimension that adds potential federal implications. In October 2022, multiple outlets reported that the DOJ’s sweeping antitrust investigation into the PGA Tour (entirely separate from the LIV lawsuit) had expanded to include Augusta National, along with the USGA and the PGA of America. These governing bodies, along with the R&A, serve as administrators for the Official World Golf Ranking—the point system that facilitates entry into major championships that was failing to accredit LIV Golf.

Months later, in January 2023, LIV Golf filed accusations against 10 Augusta National members. Most damning were the assertions that former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an Augusta National member since 2012, had personally attempted to influence the DOJ’s investigation, and that investment banker Warren Stephens, son of a past chairman of Augusta National, was directly asked by tour employees “to push Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, to lobby against LIV.”

As a necessary caveat, any party can make virtually any claim in legal filings, and a federal judge ultimately denied LIV Golf’s request to expand discovery into these activities. However, the extraordinary specificity of the allegations—naming particular members and identifying specific political figures—created a cloud of suspicion that couldn’t be entirely dismissed by those familiar with Augusta’s vast network of influence. Augusta National, despite its evolving inner dynamics, remains a club that values its privacy with fervor and abhors its workings becoming public spectacle.

Then there is commerce—the inescapable reality of global financial strings that complicates many aspects of golf’s civil war. Many Augusta National members are executives and board chairs of multinational corporations with extensive and lucrative dealings in Saudi Arabia. As individuals, they might publicly bristle at what LIV and the ongoing schism has done to the sport’s traditions and competitive structure. Conversely, they professionally must answer to their businesses, shareholders and boards—creating a potential conflict between golf loyalties and fiduciary responsibilities. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may now be under instructions to curtail some of its freelance spending on vanity projects, but its aggressive investing efforts remain in full throttle across global markets; to deliberately antagonise this $700 billion financial juggernaut is to sacrifice access to one of the world’s most significant sources of capital.

Yet, what truly crystallised the belief among insiders that Augusta National was the invisible hand orchestrating a deal was the dealmakers themselves: Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy—both Augusta National members with deep ties to professional golf’s inner sanctum.

Unlike most Augusta National members who guard their affiliation discreetly, Dunne stands as an exception—an outgoing raconteur whose relationships with PGA Tour players have elevated him to celebrity status in golf circles. Beyond the game, Dunne serves as vice chairman and senior managing principal of Piper Sandler, a prominent investment bank and financial services firm specialising in merger advisory. In fall 2022, he joined the PGA Tour as an independent director. Crucially, Dunne’s initial meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in spring 2023 laid the groundwork for the framework agreement negotiations.

Though less visible publicly, Herlihy wields comparable influence. Recognised as one of America’s premier acquisition attorneys, he notably orchestrated Bank of America’s $44 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch during the 2008 financial crisis. Like Dunne, Herlihy served on the tour’s policy board as an independent director while simultaneously holding Augusta National membership.

The exclusive invitation into the PIF negotiations to Dunne and Herlihy by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan—while keeping key tour executives in complete darkness until days before the public announcement—demands scrutiny. When congressional hearings in July 2023 forced Dunne to justify this extraordinary secrecy, he offered only the vague explanation that discussions were “fragile.” Senator Richard Blumenthal pointedly challenged this justification: “Most executives and CEOs are legally and morally obligated to keep boards of directors informed.” More troubling still were Dunne’s post-agreement interviews with the Associated Press, USA Today, Golf Channel and Sports Illustrated that produced glaringly inconsistent accounts of why, precisely, this was all happening.

Dunne’s decision to engage with Saudi PIF is particularly interesting.

So, did Dunne and Herlihy author the PIF deal primarily to shield Augusta National from unwanted publicity and prevent further exposure of its private operations? This theory gained such momentum that, according to two sources with direct knowledge, a prominent player confronted PGA Tour leadership in fall 2023, demanding answers about Dunne and Herlihy’s true motivations.

Yet this illustrates the problem with fringe theories. Despite their seductive simplicity, they collapse under serious examination.

• • •

Jimmy Dunne speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee hearing in July 2023. Bloomberg

Monahan, Dunne and Herlihy orchestrated the June 6, 2023 Saudi Arabia deal because they realised what others had not—the PGA Tour was bleeding out. Golf’s civil war with LIV Golf had become financially unsustainable for several critical reasons:

• The PGA Tour spent more than $150 million on increased purses, expanded bonuses, and legal battles.
• Despite public claims of stability through 2027, Congressional testimony revealed the PGA Tour was “on fire” from LIV’s spending power.
• Legal expenses alone were projected to exceed an additional $50 million in 2023.

Though early legal proceedings favoured the PGA Tour, the tour’s legal team harbored concerns about their own discovery vulnerabilities—recognising that even the most unassailable legal positions can crumble in the unpredictable environment of a full trial.

The deal’s most strategic element was often overlooked: Within just 10 days, all pending litigation would be permanently dismissed, eliminating both discovery risks and mounting legal costs. These explanations, while lacking dramatic intrigue, align in their straightforward plausibility and represent the unvarnished truth. (Although it perhaps raises the question why the tour would engage in an arms race it had no realistic chance of winning in the first place.)

The accusations against Augusta National likewise misread the club’s operational ethos. Augusta National navigates with greater subtlety and strategic sophistication than such an easily traceable intervention would reflect. Look no further than the club’s land acquisition methodology. The precise scope of Augusta’s property holdings and associated financial investments remains deliberately obscured, as the club shields these transactions behind a network of limited-liability companies rather than conducting business under its own name.

The visibility of Dunne and Herlihy’s involvement actually undermines the theory of Augusta National’s orchestration—a contradiction to the club’s established pattern of discreet maneuvering. Furthermore, sources with direct knowledge of the DOJ’s investigation maintain that the inquiry was primarily procedural in nature, despite its public portrayal, and categorically dismissed LIV’s allegations against Rice and Stephens as entirely without merit.

In fact, those familiar with Augusta National’s inner workings assert that Dunne became a scapegoat. The secretive nature of the initial PIF negotiations triggered backlash against him from tour membership. Dunne received no role on the tour’s transaction team handling future PIF discussions, and when the tour created a new player position specifically for Tiger Woods—following a player petition demanding improved governance and transparency after the June 6 announcement—Dunne’s influence within the tour structure diminished substantially.

He also suffered considerable public relations damage due to his current Saudi Arabian business dealings. Augusta National members—many staunch Dunne supporters—contend tour leadership failed to defend him during the player revolt despite Dunne saving the tour. “Jimmy didn’t need that,” laments one industry insider who considers himself Dunne’s friend, referring to Dunne’s deal-broker role. “He went from the most popular guy in golf to being exiled.”

While exiled might seem hyperbolic for someone who maintains memberships at Augusta National, Pine Valley, Seminole and National Golf Links—and who played in this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am—Dunne undeniably felt the repercussions. He publicly resigned from the tour Policy Board in 2024, pointedly declaring “my role is utterly superfluous.”

Augusta National’s mere consideration as a potential powerbroker in these events speaks to its formidable reputation, though even this substantially overestimates its actual influence. It is, after all, a club that runs one major tournament.

Ironically, some members contend the schism ultimately benefited the Masters, further elevating its already prestigious position as one of just four events where the entire professional golf world competes on a single stage. Augusta National did, however, play a minor role in the peace negotiations, as revealed in documents released during Congressional hearings. Among PIF’s formal requests was Augusta National membership for Al-Rumayyan himself.

As improbable as this demand appears, it represents the most credible element of the entire tale.

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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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Tiger Woods said he believes the professional game will “heal very quickly” if and when the PGA Tour can come to an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as negotiations between the two entities continue.

Visiting CBS’s 18th-hole tower at Torrey Pines on Sunday during the Genesis Invitational that he hosts, Woods was asked questions by anchor Jim Nantz about a number of topics, including the impact of his late mother, the status of the tour-PIF negotiations and when we might see Woods compete again.

After the Genesis had to be moved away from Riviera Country Club to Torrey Pines South because of the wildfires in Los Angeles, Woods entered the event, only to withdraw last Monday, saying he needed further time to process the death of Kultida Woods. Tiger made his first appearance at Torrey Pines on Sunday, walking around at the driving range to exchange hugs and chat with numerous players.

Tony Finau and Tiger Woods embrace on the Sunday of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines – Michael Owens

Nearly two weeks ago, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Players Advisory Council chairman Adam Scott went to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump and encourage him to support them in trying to get a deal done with PIF. One of the biggest concerns about securing what’s been called a “reunification” is getting the approval of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Trump has indicated he could be of assistance in that area.

This week at Torrey Pines, Monahan and Scott each portrayed the meeting with Trump as a positive step. Woods said on Sunday he was not part of the meeting because of a previous scheduling commitment but is pleased with what transpired.

“Jay and Adam did great during the meeting. And we have another subsequent meeting coming up,” Woods said. “So I think that things are going to heal quickly. We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. We’ve been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years. The fans want all of us, all the top players playing together. And we’re going to make it happen.”

In the booth, Woods, 49, spoke with admiration for his mother, who was honoured on Sunday with pins worn by the players.

“It’s been a rough process to go through,” Woods said before noting the support he’s received from his fellow players. “The amount of texts and emails and voice messages of support I got, its really meant a lot to me,” he said.

“My mom was my rock,” Woods said. “When my dad worked at McDonnell Douglas at the time, mom would take me to every junior event here in Southern California, whether it was a nine-hole event in Riverside or San Bernardino. She would be out there walking and keeping score on every hole. All those days led to the point where I am.

“Losing her,” he added, “has been very hard.”

Predictably, Woods gave no indication of when he might return to competition. The tour moves on to Mexico next week and then Florida. The next signature event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, March 6-9, followed the next week by the Players Championship.

Woods figured to fly home to Florida on Sunday because he’s set to make his next playing appearance on Monday night in TGL, his simulator league.

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Namely, how does O’Neil see LIV fitting into the framework agreement between the league’s financiers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and PGA Tour Enterprises? That deal, according to reports, has been ramping up. There’s also an interest in learning how O’Neil sees former LIV CEO, Greg Norman remaining with the league and, lastly, O’Neil’s vision for LIV as a tour.

As the former CEO of companies and organizations such as Merlin Entertainment and the Philadelphia 76ers, O’Neil has been getting the lay of the land in his first 40 days in golf. He’s overseen the announcement of a TV deal for LIV with FOX and a U.K. broadcast agreement with ITV. He was even spotted at last month’s TGL debut in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Now, with LIV’s third campaign kicking off last week under lights in Saudi Arabia, he’s into season mode.

“It’s been a short 40 days here,” O’Neil said in Adelaide. “I grew up in New York, if you haven’t been able to tell so far by my funny accent, and the state motto is ‘Excelsior,’ which means kind of onwards and upwards.”

It will certainly speed up this week at the league’s flagship event, LIV Adelaide. Tournament organizers are expecting more than 100,000 fans through the gates over three days at The Grange Golf Club. That would be a record for the 3-year-old league, known for its 14 tournaments having a non-traditional format: no cut, 54 holes and a team element.

“[Adelaide] is the pinnacle of our events, and hopefully in the future this is the bar that we set,” Koepka said, sitting beside O’Neil.

Ultimately, raising that bar will start with O’Neil and end with Koepka and his fellow LIV stars, such as U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm creating a compelling product. While LIV has struggled to gain traction in the U.S., apart from healthy crowds at its Doral tournament in Miami, some of its overseas events have performed well.

LIV Adelaide remains the league’s showpiece, but it has also found a reliable home in Spain at Valderrama (prior to the Open Championship) and in the Midlands of England with LIV Golf U.K., where an announced 45,000 fans watched last year as Jon Rahm grabbed his first LIV individual victory. Then there’s LIV Golf Hong Kong, where a reported 25,000 fans showed up last year. This year, LIV will head to Club Golf de Chapultepec in Mexico City, the former host of the PGA Tour’s WGC-Mexico Championship from 2017-2020, as well as Korea in May.

O’Neil wants LIV to retain its global emphasis going forward.

“The Australian Open here is a good example with tennis; it’s a world-class event, and for a moment, the tennis world starts and stops here, and golf seems to be very centred on the United States,” O’Neil said. “Yet when you look at the golf world and you look at Australia and the U.K. and Hong Kong and Singapore and all the incredible cities where we’re blessed to go play … we’re taking the game to where golf fans around the world want to see the greatest players on the biggest stages. We feel like that is an opportunity.”

LIV’s desire to serve underutilized markets around the world, such as Australia, has long been the ambition of Norman, a two-time Open champion. He attempted to create a world tour in the 1990s and finally got his wish as the CEO of LIV from its inception in 2022. While O’Neil took the reins last month, Norman remains in the LIV ecosystem. O’Neil hopes he stays with the league.

“I spent quite a bit of time with him in my 30-day lead up to this role and every day since engaging, asking questions and learning, and I hope that he is part of LIV forever,” O’Neil said. “If you’re smart and humble and earnest enough, you spend quite a bit of time with your predecessor. Mine just happens to be one of the greatest golfers of all time, of which I am not, sadly. Nonetheless, Greg is an icon. He is a friend. He is the reason I’m here today.”

Norman also remains on the board of LIV.

“We just had a board meeting last week,” O’Neil added. “We can tap into his experience, his leadership, his friendship, and any challenges, too, at the board meeting. I was hoping for a friendly face on the other side of the table, but he mixes it up pretty good.”

In the bigger picture, O’Neil will also need to navigate whatever LIV’s role may be in negotiations between the PIF and PGA Tour Enterprises. The PGA Tour announced that it has asked President Donald Trump to help with the talks and that commissioner, Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott met with Trump last week. Tiger Woods played golf with Trump last weekend.

Complementing those discussions was news that the USGA created one spot in the U.S. Open field for the top LIV points earner. This week, the R&A followed by making one spot at the Open Championship via the LIV standings.

While the golf world waits to see if the two tours will come together, O’Neil said he was enthusiastic about the potential for a deal.

“For us at LIV, we are hoping that [a deal] unlocks opportunity,” he said. “That may unlock opportunity with markets, with courses, with marketing partners, with television networks, with growing the game, with competition opportunities, with new formats … effectively, we’re very excited about the potential investment with PIF and PGA Tour Enterprises.”

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When the tour and PIF announced their surprise framework agreement on June 6, 2023, the original goal was to finish a deal by the end of that year. But the spectre U.S. government antitrust regulations blocking a deal and the defection in December 2023 of Jon Rahm to LIV, which led to hurt feelings on the tour side, caused negotiations to stall and the tour to seek supplemental investment, in the form of a $1.5 billion commitment from the Strategic Sports Group in early 2024.

In turn, PIF officials looked at the tour’s solicitation with other private equity groups as a betrayal of sorts to the June 6 framework agreement and reports emerged that the PIF was also entertaining a potential separate deal with the DP World Tour.

Toward the end of 2024, however, negotiations appeared to resume, with reports that a deal between the PGA Tour and PIF was in place, and that the sides were merely waiting for the Trump administration to take office before finalizing anything; the presumption was that President Trump’s Department of Justice would be more willing to pass a deal.

Shortly after Trump won the 2024 election, he played a round of golf with Monahan in Florida. Helping matters as well is President Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and LIV Golf. Trump has had business ties with the Saudi league since its emergence in 2022, with LIV hosting events at Trump venues in New Jersey, Florida and outside of Washington, D.C.

During the first round of the WM Phoenix Open on Thursday, the tour released a statement signed by Monahan, Scott and Tiger Woods (who did not meet with Trump on Tuesday), implying a deal seemed to on the horizon and acknowledging President Trump is now a part of the discussions.

“We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the Public Investment Fund and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf,” the tour said in a statement. “We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved. We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for the reunification of men’s professional golf.”

What is unclear is whether merely the financial part of a deal between the tour and the PIF is imminent or whether specifics on how the tour and LIV Golf, which began its fourth season on Thursday in Saudi Arabia, would operate together inside the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. Due to antitrust regulations, it is likely LIV as a league will continue in some capacity should a peace treaty be reached.

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Joaquín Niemann loves Saudi Arabia. The 26-year-old has claimed the two biggest prize funds in golf in the Kingdom within the space of 10 months at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and Riyadh Golf Club. In this exclusive interview with Golf Digest Middle East, Niemann shares his plans for defending his LIV Golf title this month in the capital, as he also looks ahead to his 2025 season both personally and within the LIV Golf League.

Joaquín, how much are you looking forward to defend your title in Saudi Arabia this month? Especially with it being LIV Golf’s first event of the season?

I’m pretty excited. I played, and won, at Riyadh Golf Club for the PIF Saudi International back in December on the Asian Tour’s International Series, so we were able to see the course and get a feel for what it’s going to be like. I think the weather will be similar in February, so I’m really looking forward to going back.

There were some really good crowds as well when we were there, so I’m sure it’s going to be a fun week.

How does it feel to win twice in Saudi Arabia now?

Winning in both Jeddah on LIV Golf and Riyadh on the Asian Tour is pretty special.

In Riyadh, it felt like it was an interesting week because I was playing really well, and I felt I had a great chance to win. I was almost able to get it done on the last couple of holes, but then it got a little bit “complicated” towards the end, as Caleb (Surratt) was playing great.

But it was a great experience, especially playing well on those playoff holes, even though I struggled with a few of the short putts.

But that’s part of golf when the pressure is on, and it makes it even sweeter to win the title.

Image supplied

It seems like you’ve developed a strong connection with the country!

Ha! I’m not sure what it is! I’ve played really well in Saudi these past 12 months. The grass on the course is similar to what I’m used to, which is a mix of Paspalum and Bermuda. I’ve heard they might oversee the course in Riyadh for the LIV Golf event, so we’ll see.

Hopefully, it won’t change too much! But I don’t know what it is about Saudi Arabia; I just like it!

You’re an integral part of Torque GC, how do you see the team dynamic evolving this season?

We have a great team at Torque GC. We’re really good friends, and we’re all committed to working hard and improving together.

But looking back at last year, we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t win anything and ended up fifth in the league, which I feel like we didn’t deserve.

I keep saying it, but I think we played better than the results showed. So this year, we’ve got to start playing better and getting those results in.

What about your personal goals and objectives for this season?

Is there anything specific you’ve been working on in your game? Surprisingly, I feel like everything in my game needs to improve.

There’s a lot more room for improvement in my short game. I think if I can improve that, I’ll have a better chance of winning more tournaments. My long game, including my irons and driving, has been pretty consistent throughout the year. But it just feels like it’s been the same for every round of golf.

When I’m out of position, and I miss a green, that’s where I’m able to make up for it with my short game and save my round. So if I can do that more often, I hope to be able to play a lot better.

Image supplied

How important do you think it is for players like yourself to be able to compete in the majors this year?

For me, as a professional golfer, majors are majors. We all want to play in them and win them. But with everything going on, I think it’s part of the adjustment to golf.

For me, it’s frustrating not being in some of the majors, but there’s not much I can do.

I’m trying to do my best, I’m trying to travel around the world and play to earn world ranking points where I can, but sometimes, it’s just not enough.

Looking back, how would you assess your journey with LIV Golf?

It’s been awesome to be part of this process. Something I’ve been telling a lot of my friends back in Chile about is that when you’re part of something new, and you get to be part of building it, it’s pretty special.

Putting part of myself into something to help it grow is great. Being a part of that process, watching how it has grown every year since we started, and looking back at where we began, it’s pretty cool.

Yeah, there’s still a lot of room for improvement. There’s a lot that needs to happen, a lot of things LIV Golf needs to improve on, but also it is down to us to make it better and more competitive.

But it’s getting better, and I’m happy to be part of it.

Main Image: LIV Golf. Supplied

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Joaquin Niemann earned $16,544,167 in prize money, plus a $12 million bonus for second place, bringing his total to $28,544,167. Tyrrell Hatton secured third place, earning $12,030,263 in prize money and a $4 million bonus, totalling $16,030,263.

Other standout performers included Sergio Garcia ($13,634,643) and Brooks Koepka ($11,633,115). Cameron Smith, who captained the Rippers GC to the team title, added $1,400,000 to his earnings, finishing with $9,482,459. Even the last-place team, Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC, walked away with $600,000 after the Team Championship.

60% of the Team prize money goes into team investments, with the remaining 40% split evenly among the four players on each team.

At the bottom of the list, reserve player John Catlin earned $1,629,367 despite only competing in six events, while Branden Grace and Hudson Swafford finished in the drop zone, with Grace earning $1,879,935 and Swafford $133,333 from limited appearances.

Below is the completed LIV Golf money list for the 2024 season.

LIV Golf League 2024 Money List

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