Sources: PGA Tour rejects PIF's recent $1.5B offer

The PGA Tour wants 1 premier circuit operating successful men's nonrecreational golf.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund wants 2 -- and that's wherefore the sides' talks to reunify the athletics look to beryllium backmost astatine crushed zero.

Sources confirmed to ESPN that the PGA Tour has rejected the PIF's astir caller connection to put $1.5 cardinal into PGA Tour Enterprises, the tour's for-profit entity, which came with the caveat that the rival LIV Golf League would stay intact.

The PIF, which has funded LIV Golf since its inception successful 2022, besides wants its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to service arsenic co-chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises' board. Former Valero Energy CEO Joe Gorder is president of the PGA Tour Enterprises board, and Tiger Woods serves arsenic vice chairman.

The Guardian of London reported that the PGA Tour replied to the PIF successful a missive connected Monday.

Sources antecedently told ESPN that the LIV Golf League continuing successful its contiguous signifier was a non-starter for the PGA Tour, which prefers to person the apical golfers successful the satellite competing connected 1 circuit.

Sources said the PIF has dug successful its heels successful negotiations and wants squad play to beryllium portion of the sport's aboriginal ecosystem if the sides scope a deal. The PGA Tour has tried to connection solutions to the PIF that would see immoderate benignant of iteration of LIV Golf successful aboriginal schedules, specified arsenic having squad competitions astatine planetary venues successful the fall.

"We volition not bash truthful successful a mode that diminishes the spot of our level oregon the precise existent momentum we person with our fans and our partners," PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said astatine past month's Players Championship. "So portion we've removed immoderate hurdles, others remain. But similar our fans, we inactive stock the aforesaid consciousness of urgency to get to a resolution."

The latest correspondence comes connected the heels of the sides' four-hour gathering astatine the White House connected Feb. 20, which included Al-Rumayyan, Monahan, Woods and PGA Tour subordinate manager Adam Scott. U.S. President Donald Trump had antecedently met with Monahan and Scott successful Washington connected Feb. 4.

Published reports indicated the PIF volition person injected $5 cardinal into LIV Golf by the extremity of this year. The circuit that celebrates 54-hole tournaments, nary cuts, shotgun starts and squad play has struggled to summation footing successful the U.S. successful presumption of firm sponsors and TV ratings.

Before this week's LIV Golf League tourney astatine Trump National Doral successful Miami, LIV Golf League skipper Brooks Koepka admitted that helium had hoped the breakaway circuit would beryllium further on successful its 4th season.

Koepka was 1 of respective PGA Tour stars lured to LIV Golf with guaranteed contracts worthy much than $100 million. Past large champions Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith are among the others who near the PGA Tour and were suspended by Monahan.

Financial records filed by LIV Golf's United Kingdom-based company, which operates its tournaments extracurricular the U.S., indicated it had astir $400 cardinal successful operating losses successful 2023. Financial records for events successful the U.S. weren't available.

New LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil told reporters connected Tuesday that his league didn't person to marque a woody with the PGA Tour to survive.

"If the woody tin assistance turn the crippled of play I'll leap successful with 2 feet," O'Neil said. "Do we person to bash a deal? No. It would beryllium bully to bash a deal, truthful agelong arsenic we're each focused connected the aforesaid things.

"So bash we person to bash a woody oregon request a deal, immoderate connection you use, permission that to idiosyncratic smarter than me. I volition accidental I emotion what we're doing, I emotion our prospects. I emotion the maturation successful 3 months. I cognize what's coming successful the adjacent 3 months. And I emotion wherever we are."

O'Neil isn't progressive successful the PIF's negotiations with the PGA Tour.

"The world of the mode I spot the satellite is I spot the LIV Golf League with a batch of anticipation and a batch of future," O'Neil told ESPN. "I anticipation that we find a mode to get much opportunities to person the champion players successful the satellite playing together. It mightiness not beryllium successful a nice, neat bow, oregon it mightiness be. We'll see."

The PGA Tour and the PIF sued each different successful national court, but the lawsuits were dropped erstwhile they signed a model statement connected June 6, 2023, to signifier an confederation that would reunify the sport. That woody expired astatine the extremity of 2023, but the sides person continued to effort to hammer retired a woody the past 2 years.

In January 2024, the PGA Tour and Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of U.S. pro sports teams and others, reached a woody to person SSG to put arsenic overmuch arsenic $1.5 cardinal into PGA Tour Enterprises.