HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The PGA Tour has been predictably quiet on the various reports and rumors that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund plans to end its backing of LIV Golf at the end of the year.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told TNT Sports (U.K.) this week that the circuit is “funded through the season and then you work like crazy to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.”
When asked about the LIV news, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said on Trey Wingo’s podcast that he is “interested in doing whatever makes the PGA Tour better.”
Maverick McNealy, one of six player directors on the PGA Tour Enterprises policy board, was also careful not to add more fuel to the LIV Golf rumors and he echoed Rolapp’s message of remaining focused on the Tour product.
“I didn’t see [the LIV Golf news] coming. It’s all a rumor and we don’t know how much merit there is to it,” McNealy said Sunday at the RBC Heritage. “But there was nothing happening earlier that made me think it was going to end. But, that said, it’s gone on longer than I thought it would, maybe.
“My immediate reaction is it doesn’t really change life out here. We have a great tournament here at the RBC Heritage and I think that’s what the Tour has done best. We’ve just put our head down and kept putting on great golf tournaments.”
The news Wednesday that the PIF was pulling its funding of LIV Golf, which was first reported by The Financial Times, was the topic on the range this week at Harbour Town Golf Links, with players mulling how the move could impact the PGA Tour and how players who joined LIV Golf might be welcomed back.
“We’re just trying to figure out what the best tournaments are for us. We have the best players in the world and the best venues in the world, the best fans and media partners. We are just trying to strengthen that,” McNealy said. “[Tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s] leadership allows us to kind of blank slate what the best PGA Tour looks like going forward.”
How a reimagined or possibly diminished LIV circuit could impact potential changes to the PGA Tour was also a talking point among players and officials.
Rolapp has outlined his desire for a schedule that brings the game’s best players together more often at iconic venues and in bigger markets. What exactly that looks like remains unclear, but McNealy suggested it might not be the dramatic overhaul some have predicted.
“I’ll be honest, based on how things have gone the last couple of years I think we’re pretty close to it. I don’t think you’re going to be seeing big, huge drastic changes because we’re the best tour in the world and we put on the best golf tournaments in the world,” McNealy said. “It would be crazy to completely blow that up and change everything. We’re just making tweaks to make it better.”
McNealy also addressed the potential pathway back to the Tour for LIV players.
“If we follow the rules and regs, yes [there is a pathway back],” he said. “A lot of players [from LIV Golf], most of the players would have to go through our qualifying system, whether that’s Q-School or play their way on via the DP World Tour or Korn Ferry Tour.
“Based on the way the rules and regs are written now, not to say those couldn’t change, but the way they are written now there are a couple of guys, Patrick Reed comes to mind, if he gets top 10 on DP World Tour he would have status next year. There’s definitely a pathway back without us even doing anything. I think our pathways are really good at identifying the best players in the world, so if those guys really are the best players in the world they have a spot on this tour.”
Reed left LIV Golf this year and won twice on the DP World Tour to virtually lock up a top-10 finish at the end of the season and secure his return to the PGA Tour.
