When Tiger Woods confirmed that a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf was close during the final round of this year’s Genesis Invitational, few would have believed that a deal would seem so far away as the 2025 season edges towards its conclusion.
For much of the last couple of years, it has seemed that people on all sides have wanted to agree a deal which will see the best of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf face off a lot more than just a handful of times each year.
Tiger Woods’ confidence that a merger was close in February seemed telling, with both sides heading to the White House for talks. It was not difficult to imagine Donald Trump wanting to be able to say that he was the man who brought the game back together.
However, no deal was reached. And it was suggested some time later that no talks were taking place at all.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil discusses potential unification with the PGA Tour
LIV has already confirmed much of its schedule for 2026, while the PGA Tour seem to be doing well on their own right now. Nevertheless, it appears that there is still a desire to agree a deal which will benefit both tours.
Speaking on The Colin Cowherd Podcast about the drive to bring the game back together, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil hinted that a number of barriers have now been removed, particularly with Brian Rolapp‘s appointment at the PGA Tour.
“I’m not sure it’s like the NFL, I think it’s more like NASCAR and Formula One. The question is should NASCAR and Formula One figure out a way to work together? I think so,” he said.
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“Brian Rolapp and I went to school together so we know each other fairly well and have known each other for a long time. He is really early in his job, I think he’s two weeks in, and most importantly we have less scar tissue. That’s throughout the whole industry.
“I am new, the LPGA commissioner is new, Brian at the PGA Tour is new, Mark Darbon at the R&A is new, so you have all these new people here and why are we all here? Because the boards in all of golf looked around and said ‘huh, I don’t think this is good enough’. I don’t think we are heading in the right direction.
“I think we have got to find a way to put more players playing together. How are we going to do that? How are we going to lift up and compete against football and cricket and tennis? Why are we competing against ourselves so much.”
LIV Golf signing PGA Tour players this winter is very much on the table
One of the reasons LIV caused such uproar was their initial push to sign so many big names. It seemed a devastating blow when the PGA Tour lost the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
That created a lot of animosity between the two tours. So some may wonder whether unification hopes could see LIV hold off on trying to land any marquee names from the PGA Tour ahead of the 2026 season.
LIV have told players that those in the drop zone will be relegated this year. So a number of new signings are likely to be required.
And O’Neil suggested that they are keeping their options open when it comes to where their new additions come from.
“So good question, in some cases we have promotion events, so we have the Asian Tour, the best person on the Asian Tour gets an invite in. And then we have a promotions event where you can earn your way in. And then we’ll go talk to PGA, European Tour, NCAA players,” he said.
“Of course, yeah, of course,” he replied when asked whether signing PGA Tour players is still on the table.
Last year hinted that LIV may struggle to sign any really notable names from the PGA Tour, with those who were interested in making the jump likely to have already gone.
But the PGA Tour has been punished for its complacency in recent years. So they would be wise to not assume that LIV does not have something special up its sleeve in the next few months.
