PGA Tour updates players on negotiations with investors, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as deadline extends into 2024

PGA Tour updates players on negotiations with investors, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as deadline extends into 2024

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will not meet the Dec. 31 deadline to create a for-profit entity laid out in the framework agreement announced back in June, but the Tour did provide its players with an update on the status of negotiations on New Year’s Eve.

On Dec. 10, the Tour’s policy board announced it had advanced discussions with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) – an investment group headlined by Fenway Sports Group that included Marc Attanasio, Arthur Blank, Gerry Cardinale and Cohen Private Ventures – and that it had not shut the door on the PIF.

A memo sent to the membership on Sunday covered three primary points as the Tour continues to negotiate with both parties. From the Tour:

  • First, Monahan noted that “we have made meaningful progress” in negotiations with SSG and are currently working toward finalization of terms and drafting necessary documents.
  • Secondly, with just hours until the Dec. 31 expiration date for the Framework Agreement with the PIF and DP World Tour, the memo spoke to an effort to extend the deadline into the new year based on the progress made to date. Monahan categorized the PIF and DP World Tour discussions as “active and productive.”
  • Finally, the memo restated the Tour’s goal relative to all negotiations, which is to bring SSG, PIF and the DP World Tour on board as minority co-investors in PGA Tour Enterprises in 2024. Monahan said, “These partnerships will allow us to unify, innovate and invest in the game for the benefit of the players, fans and sponsors.”

In other words, there’s no real update other than the confirmation that a deal won’t be struck by the start of 2024. Negotiations are still ongoing with both the PIF and SSG and all sides are working towards coming together to get a deal done.

The Tour returns to action this week with the first event of its 2024 season, The Sentry, Jan. 4-7 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Flu36EQ

Lynch: The power flex by star players could reshape more than just the PGA Tour

Lynch: The power flex by star players could reshape more than just the PGA Tour

Numbers are the highest degree of knowledge, if Plato is to be believed, but also the lowest form of thirst for social media gobdaws whose fanciful figures are now considered reliable, or at least repeatable. Take the $600 million widely “reported” as the value of Jon Rahm’s contract with LIV. That sum began as nothing more than speculative slobbering, was amplified by anonymous aggregators, then legitimized by traditional media outlets happy to exploit unsourced rumor in pursuit of traffic. Pity the historians of this period who will someday have to distinguish eyewitnesses from ‘I heards.’

The decay of golf media notwithstanding, comma-heavy contracts that grab headlines tell us only the rough cost of weapons, not what the landscape will look like after the truce. For all of the uncertainties in the sport as we pull the shutters on 2023, ’24 will go a long way toward revealing its future shape, which will largely be defined by a number that’s unarousingly small: 25, or thereabouts — approximately the number of weeks that elite players are willing to work each year.

Everything intended to leverage the presence of top players — major championships, signature events, team competitions — must be shoehorned into that couple dozen weeks, which is why negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia are focused more on matters of practicality than philosophy. Those familiar with the thinking of PIF’s governor Yasir al-Rumayyan say that his ‘baby’ is team golf in general (rather than LIV in particular), and he’s insistent it be a significant part of the future. Whatever structure that eventually emerges will by necessity be global, making stops with every stakeholder, including Saudi Arabia. Al-Rumayyan isn’t paying to be bypassed and will need a show-and-tell for the Crown Prince, who isn’t a chap that courtiers are casual about displeasing.

Accommodating every desired component — four majors, the Players and a handful of premier PGA Tour stops, a scattering of events ex-U.S. and a handful of team affairs — effectively means creating a silk-stocking circuit that exists above the tours as we know them, and the ramifications of that are enormous. For regular tournaments that will struggle to draw elite fields. For sponsors paying penthouse prices for what may be perceived as ground floor events. For media partners expected to pay another $6 billion or so through 2030 for a product that the Tour would no longer be delivering, since players pushing for change won’t wait years to realize their rewards. Even if the reimagined product is improved, a tremendous amount of revenue would be in jeopardy, any loss of which is likely to be felt most among the broader membership. No wonder journeymen have taken to circulating a petition demanding accountability from executives who are now really only answerable to the most rarified strata of stars.

But what if the players, and the Saudis, want more? Who’s to say that a remaking of elite men’s golf ends at the PGA Tour?

“The management has not done a good job,” Viktor Hovland said recently in criticizing Tour leadership. “They almost see the players as labor.” Leaving aside the fact that the managerial alternative sees golfers as indentured servants, there’s clearly a hazardous gap between how players feel they are seen (as grunts) and how they see themselves (as owners). So what happens if emboldened stars expand their definition of “management” beyond Jay Monahan’s inner sanctum?

A sense of entitlement allied to actual power might convince them that they have the muscle to reshape majors and demand a much greater share of that revenue too. Multiple sources say that one leading player told Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley last year that the Masters needed to cough up more coin to its competitors. Nor is it wholly implausible that a new entity flush with capital could acquire the Ryder Cup from the penurious PGA of America, just as the DP World Tour is doing with the legacy associations that are part-owners on that side of the pond. The Ryder Cup is the only important asset Europe brings to the deal being forged. Adding ownership of the American half would be hugely attractive since the guys likely to see equity in the new joint venture are the same guys who comprise the teams. The festering dispute about whether team members should be paid for laboring in the Cup could be moot if the players decide they deserve an ownership stake instead.

It’s needlessly generous to assume that al-Rumayyan’s endgame is mere acceptance, a seat at golf’s head table. If players continue to assert their newfound power, bankrolled by his billions, al-Rumayyan may end up with a meaningful stake in every significant event.

The power dynamic in men’s professional golf has shifted profoundly and irreversibly. The coming months will bring more specifics on how things will be structured, but we know with certainty that it will be to the liking of the game’s dominant players right now. At some stage, it might be worth considering whether that is actually a positive development.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Flu36EQ

2023 Golfweek Awards: Best New Idea in Golf — Grant Thornton Invitational

2023 Golfweek Awards: Best New Idea in Golf — Grant Thornton Invitational

OK, so it’s not exactly a new idea. A mixed-team event was on the PGA Tour and LPGA schedules most years from 1960 to 1999.

But for today’s players and newer golf fans, the Grant Thornton Invitational was a first and refreshing year-end addition in 2023. And, given the upheaval that surrounds the game, a much-needed distraction.

Jason Day, the highest-ranked PGA Tour player in the field, teamed with Lydia Ko to win the inaugural event at Tiburon Golf Club. Ko, who’d endured a hugely disappointing 2023, found something in the lead-up to the event and looked better than she had all season.

2023 Grant Thornton Invitational

Lilia Vu and Joel Dahmen during the first round of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club on December 08, 2023 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas DeFelice/Getty Images)

With the Grant Thornton held at the same venue as the longstanding QBE Shootout, another unofficial limited-field event, it was easy to compare notes between the two. The mixed event had double the fans and concession sales than QBE, and the hospitality areas sold out.

Many of the PGA Tour players said they hoped that a successful Grant Thornton would lead to more opportunities between the men and women.

“There’s no reason we can’t have more mixed-team events,” said Joel Dahmen, who paired with World No. 1 Lilia Vu.

“There are so many events on the PGA Tour, ratings aren’t always amazing in some of those fields. To bring in the women’s game would be awesome.

“I was completely outclassed today by Lexi (Thompson).”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Flu36EQ

Remembering those we lost in the world of golf in 2023

Remembering those we lost in the world of golf in 2023

A caddie who expertly worked the grill on the back of his truck.

An Augusta National Golf Club caddie who became the unofficial historian for Masters loopers.

The longtime starter at the British Open who famously never took a bathroom break between the first tee time and the last.

The winner of the first-ever PGA Tour Champions event.

A four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion.

The world of golf indeed lost some true legends in 2023. From players to caddies, course designers to teachers, to many others who contributed their life’s work to the game.

Here’s a closer look at those the world of golf goodbye to this year.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/mpeLY1u

Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry strengthen field of PGA Tour's American Express in January

Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry strengthen field of PGA Tour's American Express in January

Fan favorite Rickie Fowler, who returned to the PGA Tour winner’s circle in 2023 for the first time in four years, and past British Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland are among the latest golfers to commit to The American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta, California, in January.

Fowler and Lowry join a field that now includes eight of the top 23 players in the world ranking, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 5 Patrick Cantlay and No. 6 Xander Schauffele.

The American Express will be played Jan. 18-21 at three courses in La Quinta: the Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament courses at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club. The event will feature 156 pros playing with 156 amateurs on the first three days, then a pros-only fourth round on the Stadium Course.

Fowler has been one of the most prominent golfers on the PGA Tour in his career, and his win last year at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit was his sixth victory on Tour. Fowler had not won on Tour since taking the WM Phoenix Open in 2019. Fowler is 23rd in the world ranking.

Lowry, the 2019 British Open winner when the championship was played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, will be making his debut in The American Express. Lowry has two PGA Tour wins and four other victories on the DP World Tour. Lowry was also a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team in Italy in September, his second Ryder Cup appearance.

Other golfers ranked in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking and committed to the La Quinta event are Tom Kim, Jason Day, Tony Finau and Sam Burns.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/mpeLY1u

2023 Golfweek Awards: Male Player of the Year

2023 Golfweek Awards: Male Player of the Year

As the month of December winds down and January approaches, it’s time to look back on 2023 and reward some of the best moments the game of golf provided fans over the last year.

There were just two awards that produced unanimous votes from the esteemed Golfweek staff: the Female Amateur of the Year and the Male Player of the Year. The former was a repeat winner, while the latter is a first-time Golfweek Award recipient.

The discussion was brief and centered around a pair of multiple-time major champions as well as the winner of the 2023 FedEx Cup. Here are Golfweek’s honorable mentions for Male Amateur of the Year, as well as the consensus winner.

MORE: Check out every Golfweek Award for 2023

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/mpeLY1u

Tiger Woods: 48 wild stats and facts for his 48th birthday

Tiger Woods: 48 wild stats and facts for his 48th birthday

Golf is a game that revolves around numbers. Lots of numbers.

There’s par and yardage, irons, woods and wedges, golf balls and holes, strokes and strokes gained. The list goes on. When it comes to impressive lists of numbers and stats related to golf, nobody’s compiled a better one over a career than Tiger Woods. Even with all his injuries, he still isn’t done.

In fact, he’s adding another number today: 48. As in, years old.

From his record PGA Tour earnings to his record-tying 82 Tour wins and 15 major championships, here are 48 facts and stats to celebrate Tiger’s 48th birthday.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/mpeLY1u

Ski, fish, bike and golf from this breathtaking Vail home currently on sale for just under $18M

Ski, fish, bike and golf from this breathtaking Vail home currently on sale for just under $18M

Vail embodies the best that the great state of Colorado has to offer. Mountain views, winding rivers and colorful summers give those who live in this stunning stretch of the Rockies a little bit of everything.

While fewer than 5,000 people permanently live in the tiny town, the area is constantly bustling with activity, with the nearby ski resort bringing a steady stream of adventurists each winter and other events like the Vail Film Festival and the Bravo! Vail classical music series keeping the area vibrant year-round.

This home with more than 6,000 square feet of living space offers a mix of biking, fishing, skiing and, of course, golf — all within walking distance.

This 5-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom home lines the fourth fairway of the Vail Golf Club, an 18-hole, par-71 track known for its walkability and golf bikes, which allow players to maximize their exercise time.

Stay warm in the winter with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, and enjoy summer with a wrap-around deck. The home also includes new white oak hardwood floors, and a wet bar for entertaining.

A buyer also gets the opportunity to purchase a full membership to the Vail Mountain Club, which has a lengthy waiting list to join. Membership provides valet parking, a private ski locker, gym/spa access, food and beverage, and a multitude of social activities. the home is currently on sale for $17,900,000 through Sotheby’s.

Here are some of the best shots of the home:

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/gBVKkYi