Fenway chairman and Liverpool owner confirms PGA Tour ‘conversations’
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Fenway Group chairman Tom Werner confirmed that Fenway has had talks with the PGA Tour about a potential partnership.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW JERSEY – The Fenway Sports Group has had talks with the PGA Tour about a potential partnership as questions arise about the proposed business agreement with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
Tom Werner, chairman of the Fenway Group, confirmed as much in an interview on Monday with CNBC’s Halftime Report.
He was flanked by PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy, who has spoken out often against LIV.
The two were on the show primarily to discuss the founding of TGL, the simulator golf league launched by Tiger Woods and McIlroy. It is set to begin play in January, and Fenway owns the league’s Boston franchise, named Boston Common.
“We confirm that we’ve had conversations,” Werner said, but he declined to say anything else about an investment with the PGA Tour.
Fenway Sports also owns the Boston Red Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool in the English Premier League.
Reports have popped up that the Fenway group could make the PGA Tour a more lucrative offer than the Saudis did.
In June, it was announced that the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) would become allies,
While McIlroy has been an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, he said his hope is that the PGA and LIV will find a way to work together for the good of the game.
“I feel like we’ve got a fractured competitive landscape right now,” he said. “And I would prefer if everyone sort of got back into the same boat. I think that’s the best thing for golf.”
He also said he would be “very surprised” if Jon Rahm leaves the PGA Tour. When the world No. 3 announced he was backing out of TGL, it ignited rumours that the Spaniard might be planning a leap from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf.
McIlroy, a four-time Major champion, added: “I spoke to Jon a couple days ago and would be very, very surprised if that were to happen... I’m pretty confident Jon is a PGA Tour player.”
A statement from TGL officials said they “understand that players have to balance a lot of different facets of their professional and personal lives and respect Jon’s choice and wish him well”.
In the past, Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, has not been as vocal a critic of LIV Golf – which spent millions recruiting star players – as McIlroy, and he wanted fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia to be included in future Ryder Cup teams despite his defection to LIV.
But Rahm made clear in June 2022 that he did not play golf for monetary reasons and he did not consider LIV’s 54-hole, no-cut format to be worthwhile. REUTERS
