Hours before the PGA Tour Policy Board was set to hold a meeting Tuesday in Detroit, presumably to advance its pending agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, copies of the bombshell framework agreement between the parties were obtained late Monday by multiple media outlets, including Global Golf Post.
The five-page agreement, signed May 30, one week before it was announced, reconfirmed the basics of what PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said when they announced the unexpected alliance on CNBC – essentially establishing a plan to join forces and drop all pending lawsuits, which has been done.
There are, however, few details in the letter regarding the proposed final product. According to the letter, the parties have until December 31, 2023 to finalize their agreement.
It is broad and necessarily vague, citing “definitive agreements” that likely are being hammered out. The agreement does state that “PIF, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour will establish a partnership in global golf.”
According to a source familiar with tour business, the agreement was sent to a congressional subcommittee chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, who is looking into the proposed deal between the formerly divided parties. The committee has asked Monahan, Al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to attend a July 11 hearing on Capitol Hill.
While short on details, the agreement gives the PGA Tour control over LIV Golf, raising the question of whether the upstart league will exist beyond the conclusion of its 2023 season. LIV Golf’s future will be determined by a panel led by Monahan and weighted with PGA Tour Policy Board members.
According to a source familiar with tour business, the agreement was sent to a congressional subcommittee chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, who is looking into the proposed deal between the formerly divided parties. The committee has asked Monahan, Al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to attend a July 11 hearing on Capitol Hill.
Though Monahan has stepped away from his duties as commissioner to deal with a medical issue, there are reports that the tour plans to have a representative at the July 11 hearing. It is unknown who else might attend the hearing.
Among the key topics presented in the agreement are:
The creation of a communications committee: This group, which will be directly involved in structuring the final agreement, includes PGA Tour Policy Board members Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy along with two as-yet unnamed members. This group could have a significant say in determining potential paths back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour for players who left for LIV, and precisely how the various entities will work together.

The future of LIV Golf. Its fate will be determined by the board of NewCo, the for-profit enterprise created by the tour, the PIF and the DP World Tour.
The agreement calls for a “full and objective empirical data-driven evaluation of LIV and its prospects and potential” including the option of finding a place for team golf in the PGA and DP World tours. A recommendation on the future of LIV will be presented to Monahan, the chief executive officer of NewCo, who will make a decision about LIV’s future.
In other words, the PGA Tour will determine LIV’s future, which does not seem to bode well for the second-year league. The agreement also puts an end to LIV Golf’s recruiting players from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
The path back: It is obviously a point of discussion despite Monahan’s earlier comments that there was no definitive path back to the PGA Tour for members who left for LIV.
The three organizations will “work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission consistent with each Tour’s disciplinary policies.”
It means that Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and others could return to the PGA Tour at some point in the future, but there will be sanctions. Whether that means significant fines, an extended suspension or some combination of both remains to be seen.
World-ranking points: The agreement calls for the parties to “cooperate in good faith to secure OWGR recognition for LIV events and players under OWGR’s criteria for considering LIV’s pending application.”
That, it seems, is contingent on LIV continuing to play into 2024.
Will the PGA Tour or PIF have the most control? The power will remain with the PGA Tour, which will continue to operate its tournament business as an IRS 501(c)(6) not-for-profit organization that is exempt from federal taxes while joining forces with the PIF and the DP World Tour to create new business opportunities.
The PIF will, however, become a “premier corporate partner” for both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Additionally, the PIF will become a title sponsor for a high-profile tournament mutually agreed upon by the various organizations.
As for how much capital the PIF will contribute to the two tours, that is not spelled out in the agreement. Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of NewCo while Monahan is slated to be the CEO, leading a board weighted with PGA Tour Policy Board members.
In other words, expect what has been the Saudi International to become a bigger event, likely co-sanctioned by both major tours.
As for how much capital the PIF will contribute to the two tours, that is not spelled out in the agreement. Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of NewCo while Monahan is slated to be the CEO, leading a board weighted with PGA Tour Policy Board members.
According to the agreement “PIF will contribute their golf-related investments and assets, including LIV, to NewCo along with a cash investment, in exchange for the issuance to PIF of an equity ownership interest in NewCo at a fair value mutually agreed by the parties. Following the contribution of assets into NewCo, NewCo shall assume all of the liabilities and obligations of the contributed assets, provided that each Party’s contributed businesses will be valued in their totality, taking into account all liabilities, commitments, contributions and obligations made or incurred by the respective prior owners, including in respect of player contracts and other working capital and operating expenses.
“In addition, the PIF will make a cash investment in NewCo for an incremental ownership in order to fund the growth of NewCo which will include a right of first refusal on capital raised by NewCo, provided that, for the avoidance of doubt, the PGA Tour will at all times maintain a controlling voting interest in NewCo and PIF will continue to hold a non-controlling voting interest, notwithstanding any incremental investment by PIF or exercise of its right of first refusal.”