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Mark Schlabach
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are meeting with officials at the White House on Thursday in what the tour hopes is another step in reunifying men’s professional golf.
Monahan and Scott met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 4 in an effort to speed up the federal government’s approval of the tour’s proposed deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which plans to inject $1.5 billion into the tour’s for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan attended Thursday’s meeting in Washington. President Trump was also at the White House.
“We had some interesting discussions,” Trump said at a Black History Month reception, which Woods, Scott and Monahan attended. Woods went on stage with Trump wearing the Presidential Medal of Freedom he received from Trump in 2019.
Monahan described Thursday’s meeting as a “constructive working session.”
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we have initiated a discussion about the reunification of golf,” Monahan said in a prepared statement. “We are committed to moving as quickly as possible and will share additional details as appropriate.
“We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification. Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans.”
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF announced they had reached a framework agreement to form an alliance on June 6, 2023. That deal expired at the end of 2023, but the sides continued to negotiate a potential deal over the past two years.
The PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is financing the rival LIV Golf League.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division has been reviewing the PIF’s proposed investment into PGA Tour Enterprises for the past several months to determine whether it violated federal antitrust laws.
U.S. lawmakers, including Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), have raised national security concerns, saying the deal would allow Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record.
At last week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, Monahan told reporters that the meeting with Trump earlier this month was productive and was about “the reunification of the professional game on one tour, with all the best players on it.”
“Everything is moving forward with pace, and I think there’s a general — when you look at all the parties involved — there’s a general enthusiasm for getting this done,” Monahan said. “I think the meeting [with Trump] ultimately gets us one step closer to a deal being done, but there’s a lot more work to do.”
During Sunday’s final round coverage of the Genesis, Woods told CBS that negotiations with the PIF are in a “very positive place right now.”
“I think things are going to heal quickly,” Woods said. “We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years, and the fans want all of us to play together — all the top players playing together — and we’re going to make that happen.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
