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PIF in talks to unite world golf tournaments

By Andrew Hammond
LVA PAG golf dispute Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
US President-elect Donald Trump with his son Eric Trump at the LIV Golf Invitational at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, last year
  • Negotiations with PGA, LIV World
  • President Trump may get involved
  • Saudi-UAE rivalry plays part

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is engaged in two separate series of talks to unify the main world golf tournaments, after it disrupted the sport by setting up its upstart LIV Golf tour. 

The controversial launch of the LIV tour thrust Saudi Arabia and its $925 billion sovereign wealth fund into a multi-billion industry that is close to the heart of incoming US president Donald Trump. 

Trump was seen with PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, at a wrestling event in New York two weeks ago.

The president-elect also played golf with the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, at the Trump golf club in Florida, where Trump has hosted both PGA Tour and LIV Golf events. 

“I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done,” Trump said earlier this month, echoing his campaign claims to be able to resolve international political conflicts.

Al-Rumayyan, who is also the chairman of LIV Golf, has been leading talks since September to get a deal which would see PIF invest in the US-based PGA Tour as a prelude to unification of the PGA Tour and the Europe-based DP World Tour. 

Bloomberg reported claims from US-based sources this week that PIF was pursuing separate talks with DP World Tour. PIF did not respond to a request for comment. 

The US and European tours are separate entities, but since PIF set up LIV Golf in 2022 they have cooperated closely, allowing some championships to count for rankings in both tournaments. 

Anti-trust concerns

A big block has been anti-trust concerns expressed by the US Justice Department over Saudi Arabia bringing the PGA and LIV Golf into one professional entity. 

However, Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris, said: “Now that Trump will be back in the White House, one senses that the LIV logjam will quickly dissipate in the United States and with the PGA.

“Saudi Arabia will finally be embedded in the sport, Trump will claim victory in resolving the long-running fractiousness and European golf will be the recipient of considerable new financial investment.” 

PIF’s rebel competition disrupts the traditional 72-hole format with 54-hole events (thus its name, LIV, the Roman numerals for 54). It also has a reduced calendar of events and huge prize money. 

Top players Talor Gooch and Dustin Johnson have won a total of $46 million and $44 million respectively over its three seasons so far. 

Saudi Arabia has played a similar disrupter role in world snooker, starting a new snooker championship this year with new rules. 

James Dorsey, a sports expert and senior fellow at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said Saudi-UAE rivalry was also playing into the golf war. 

The European Tour took on the name of Dubai’s logistics giant DP World under a sponsorship deal in 2021, before PIF’s move in establishing LIV Golf as a UK-based subsidiary, with 97 percent ownership, and golf champion Greg Norman as its CEO. 

A deal between LIV Golf and the DP World Tour would still be PIF-controlled in the ultimate balance, “but throw Dubai a bone”, Dorsey said.

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