Report: PGA Tour, LIV Golf Negotiations Have 'Barely Progressed' Ahead of Deadline

Last June, the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund-backed LIV Golf announced a proposed union that would combine their "commercial businesses and rights into a new, yet-to-be-named for-profit company," as noted by Lillian Rizzo of CNBC.

Four months later, it appears that quest is in "significant doubt" of getting done before their self-imposed Dec. 31 deadline to complete the move, per A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports, who wrote the two sides "have barely progressed since the June announcement."

"While the parties could extend the deadline by mutual agreement, sources with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports there is so little progress by this point that extending the deadline would likely be pointless," Perez stated.

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf had previously agreed to drop all litigation against each other amid what has been a bitter rivalry ever since the latter league was founded in 2021.

That's a big step in itself, but there's apparently far too much disagreement and work to be done otherwise before the end of the calendar year.

Perez also explained the primary issue at hand:

"Two sources said that the main roadblock is the PGA Tour's policy board, which wasn't presented as such to PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan," Perez wrote.

"When the framework was announced, there was an even split between players and independent members on the policy board."

That was before Tiger Woods joined the board of members which also includes Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, and Webb Simpson. In addition, those players reportedly weren't happy with the merger framework in mind.

"The players weren't involved in creating that framework, so they basically wanted to start all over," a source told Perez.

In addition, Perez wrote that one source relayed that the PGA Tour reportedly hasn't even "signed the preliminary paperwork" as of yet.

Per Josh Kosman of the New York Post in June, the Saudi Public Investment Fund "could fork over about $2 billion" for the union.

Three months after that was reported, Nikey Nashant of Reuters relayed on Sept. 28 that both Endeavor Group and Fenway Sports Group "have expressed interest in investing in the PGA Tour," per a source.

With that in mind, Perez noted that the PGA Tour has been working with those groups and others "to replace the up to $2 billion PIF would have committed if the deal were completed."

Needless to say, the PGA Tour-LIV Golf saga has been nothing short of a mess in various ways, and now the proposed union between the two sides looks to be on the brink.