NEW YORK – A memo sent to PGA Tour players on Wednesday night said that while the tour works on finalising an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), it is fielding calls from other interested investors as well, ESPN and Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

ESPN attributed the memo to Jason Gore, a former PGA Tour player now serving as its senior vice-president. Bloomberg reported that the message came in an e-mail from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.

The message reportedly sought to assure players that the tour’s process for negotiating with the PIF and Europe’s DP World Tour “is working well”.

“We remain focused on reaching a definitive agreement with PIF and the DP World Tour, but not surprisingly, these negotiations have resulted in unsolicited outreach and proposals from a number of other interested investors. All of this activity reinforces the tour’s strong position and our potential for growth,” the message said.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF agreed to a “framework agreement” in June that would result in the merger of the traditional tours and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit, an unexpected twist after LIV and the PGA had been at odds for months.

As part of the framework agreement, the parties agreed to form a new, for-profit body now being called PGA Tour Enterprises. The PGA Tour had previously operated as a non-profit. PIF would invest billions into the entity and hold a minority stake.

The framework agreement is set to expire on Dec 31, however, and the PGA Tour striking a more concrete deal with PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and other officials is far from finished, ESPN reported.

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said at a Bloomberg conference on Wednesday that his company submitted a bid seeking a stake in the PGA Tour.

Emanuel said in June that Endeavor, the parent company of World Wrestling Entertainment, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and powerful sports agencies like IMG, nearly invested US$1 billion (S$1.37 billion) into LIV.

Fenway Sports Group has also been reported to show interest in investing.

Fenway owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, the National Hockley League’s Pittsburgh Penguins and the English Premier League’s Liverpool.

Any new investors may provide an alternative to the PIF transaction, though they could wind up partnering with the Saudi fund, a person with knowledge of the matter said. REUTERS