Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
The PGA Tour’s player directors met with the Saudi PIF Gov. Yasir al-Rummayan for the first time Monday.
News surfaced over the weekend about a potential secret meeting between PGA Tour Player Directors and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) boss, Yasir al-Rummayan.
By the end of The Players Championship, Patrick Cantlay confirmed they were to meet for the first time Monday in the Bahamas.
Tuesday, Golf Channel reporter Kira Dixon spoke with one of the player directors, gaining insight into how the meeting went.
“Yasir came into this meeting with his ideas of where professional golf should go… the PGA Tour side, the players, have ideas of where professional golf should go. He said ‘they are pretty far away from actually coming to a place where they are going to take steps to unification,’” Dixon said of the player director.
The PGA Tour Player Directors consist of Cantlay, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson, Peter Malnati and Adam Scott. Dixon did not disclose which she met with.
Nevertheless, she did go on to layout the progress from the meeting.
“It was a very positive meeting and the relationship is very open from here on out.”
When the June 6 bombshell announced was made, a self-imposed deadline of December 31st to come to an agreement was made. That time has come and passed with talks having stalled.
Meanwhile, the new for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises brokered a deal with SSG (Strategic Sports Grouo) worth up to $3 billion.
It is widely believed that the initial discussions between the sides prompted LIV Golf to poach Jon Rahm for an astronomical amount of money.
It appears there is no imminent deal between the PIF and the PGA Tour. But the fact that the player directors themselves, instead of Commissioner Monahan and other officials, met with al-Rummayan, at least might move things along.
Whether that will end in the unification of golf is still to be determined.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
