LIV Golf and the PGA Tour are still at loggerheads it seems when it comes to a potential merger.
The golfing landscape was completely transformed back in 2022 when LIV Golf was created, and numerous high profile names jumped ship from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed golf league.
Since then, men’s professional golf has been divided, with fans only getting to watch the best players from both tours compete against one another during the majors.
LIV CEO Scott O’Neil now has to change all of that, with new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said to be ready to initiate talks.
However, it was recently claimed that a merger between LIV and the PGA Tour will ‘never happen’.
That said, the two parties are believed to still be heavily involved in negotiations.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
It has been claimed that the main sticking point right now is LIV’s insistence on the team format remaining in any kind of merger.
So is there any scope for a deal to be made?
LIV Golf CEO opens up on his relationship with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp
Rolapp has actually admitted that he’s not fully up to speed on the ins and outs of everything that a potential PGA Tour / LIV merger would entail.
As soon as he is made aware of both sides’ thoughts and demands regarding a deal, he will undoubtedly make it his priority to give golf fans what we all actually want.
O’Neil and Rolapp actually know each other well from when they attended business school together a long time ago.
So that’s a good start at least!
O’Neil opened up on what his relationship with Rolapp is really like.
The LIV chief explained: “Brian and I went to Harvard Business School together. We are friends, for sure. I can say that may sound strange because I know you have a global audience but in the US I have been in the sports business for so long and he is on the sports business. There are only so many people running the world of sports in the US and so we go to the same Church. We are friends, yeah.“
He was then asked about how golf fans should react to the PGA Tour’s appointment of Rolapp.
He said: “Sure. Brian is great for the game of golf. Any fans of any sport should appreciate and love that fact that you get a whip smart, high integrity, extraordinary deal maker and negotiator and a wonderful person into the sport.“
Photo by BRENTON EDWARDS/AFP via Getty Images
The LIV CEO was asked what a potential merger between the two tours would look like.
O’Neil responded: “I am not sure that is the right question. I know it’s good media. But I would say that if you go to the root of the question and say are there opportunities for our golfers to play more golf together? Absolutely. Is Brian here going to help facilitate that at a faster pace? Of course. I am still a new guy at six months and Brian is new at six minutes. Hopefully it leads to good things.“
O’Neil was then asked whether Rolapp will be invited to a LIV event.
He said: “I’m sure. He is someone I know very well and have a lot of respect for. I doubt he will come. It would be too much of a news circus and I don’t think I would encroach on his energy too. I imagine he will come to The Open and we will spend some time.“
What Bryson DeChambeau predicted would happen with LIV and the PGA Tour back in 2024
Bryson DeChambeau is LIV Golf’s biggest draw.
So anything he says about a potential merger between the two tours is always greeted with huge attention.
Back in 2024, DeChambeau made an extremely bold prediction about the two tours – one that has so far failed to come to fruition.
“I think the deal is going to come quicker than you think,” DeChambeau said.
“It might not be the next couple of weeks. Maybe a month or so. But it’s going to happen. There’s no way around it now. This is about the good of the game for the fans. The health of the game for the fans.
“As time goes on, we’re starting to see these fans are hungry for us all to come back together. I can’t wait for that day to happen.
“What I could see is LIV integrating into the Signature Series on the PGA Tour in some capacity and having two championships in one, where you have the individual component in the Signature Series, and you have the team side of it,” he explained.
“You have the teams you’re playing for, so no matter what on that final day that guy that’s playing really bad still matters, it’s still a big deal on the team championship aspect of the tournament.
“Then you guys have the individual side that’s still competing for that individual title the way it is currently.”
Unfortunately, a deal seems to be a long way off right now.
Hopefully O’Neil and Rolapp will be able to engage in genuinely balanced discussion, and a merger between LIV and the PGA Tour will not be too far away.
Golf fans deserve to see the world’s best players competing against one another outside of the four major championships.
