Trump has ‘bolstered’ PGA-LIV reunification

MIAMI (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s intervention in negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has “significantly bolstered” hopes of reunifying the fractured sport but “hurdles” to a deal remain, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Monahan said Trump, who has hosted two rounds of talks at the White House involving leaders of the PGA and Saudi Arabia-financed LIV, had made a deal between the two sides more likely.

But Monahan told a press conference that while some hurdles had been removed during negotiations, “others remain” without revealing what were the stumbling blocks preventing a final agreement.

Hopes of a breakthrough had risen after Trump hosted PGA and LIV chiefs at the White House last month in talks that Monahan described as “real and substantial.”

“Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator,” Monahan said Tuesday.

“President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together.”

“He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified. His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.”

Monahan said he had built a relationship of “mutual respect” with LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who he said could conceivably be welcomed onto the board of the PGA Tour eventually “to move the global game forward.”

However, Monahan said that while “important aspects” LIV Golf could be incorporated into the PGA Tour, any unification deal would not “diminish the strength of our platform.”

“Our team is fully committed to reunification,” Monahan said.

“The only deal that we would regret is one that compromises the essence of what makes the game of golf and the PGA Tour so exceptional.”

Asked for an example of what might diminish the PGA Tour, Monahan was tight-lipped but hinted that the impasse could be linked to the PGA Tour’s traditional four-round, 72-hole format versus LIV’s abbreviated 54-hole standard.

“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,” he said.

“These tournaments are 72-hole stroke play tournaments at historic, iconic venues. That’s who we are as an organization, and that’s who we’ll always be as an organization.”

Monahan said fans simply wanted to see the best players playing against each other. At the moment, golf’s four annual majors are the only events that see players from both circuits competing against each other.

“I think what our fans are telling us is that they want to see the best players in the world playing together more often and that’s what really is the focus of the conversations,” he said.

Two-time major-winner Justin Thomas meanwhile said players were fatigued by the long-running saga of golf’s schism.

“I think this is the third time I’ve played this tournament while this has been going on in some way, shape or form,” Thomas said.

“I think we’re kind of past the level of exhaustion... obviously like the rest of us, we would love for it to be done sooner rather than later.”