LOS ANGELES (AFP) — World No. 5 Patrick Cantlay has sympathy for golf fans, but the PGA Tour Policy Board member had no big news for them on Wednesday at the PGA's 2024 season-opening event.

Negotiations involving the board began after last June's announcement of a framework merger agreement to unite the PGA and DP World Tour with Saudi backers of the LIV Golf League but have yet to produce any final deal.

With golf's future in limbo as the PGA season begins in Hawaii and LIV planning a Mexico launch in four weeks, Cantlay could relate to fans seeking an end to the uncertainty.

"I feel for the fans," Cantlay said.

"There has been a ton of confusion not only for players out on tour in the last year or two, but I can only imagine for the fan at home."

"I think the fan is rooting for the attention to go back squarely onto golf and squarely onto the tournaments that are being played and to forget all of this political non-golf talk, which has consumed a lot of the energy over the last couple years."

For now, the only places for PGA and LIV stars to compete are majors. But Cantlay hopes the PGA Tour's new set of signature events, with larger purses and smaller fields, will help until the dealmaking concludes.