Questions over LIV Golf linger as PGA Tour opens 2024 campaign

LOS ANGELES – Uncertainty and controversy over a potential merger with LIV Golf’s Saudi backers loom over the United States-based PGA Tour as its 2024 season tees off on Jan 4 in Hawaii.

The PGA’s Tournament of Champions, now dubbed The Sentry, will again be played at Kapalua, this time in support of wildfire-devastated host Maui following the

tragedy in August 2023.

A field of 59 will compete in the US$20 million (S$26.5 million) opener, with four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy the only qualified player skipping the event to begin his 2024 campaign later.

Even as the PGA Tour returns to a calendar-year format, the impact of the shock announcement in June 2023 of

a framework merger deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)

and DP World Tour lingers over the series.

Reigning US Masters champion Jon Rahm of Spain, who won the 2023 Kapalua crown, will not defend his title, having

jumped to LIV in December 2023

for rich financial guarantees.

That signals the upstart series can drain top PGA talent ahead of LIV’s season openers in February at Mayakoba in Mexico and Las Vegas, during Super Bowl week there.

Negotiations between PGA and PIF officials have gone beyond an original Dec 31 deadline and still no details have emerged about plans for what a PGA-LIV structure would feature, even as the rivals plan separate 2024 seasons.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, criticised by players for keeping details of LIV merger talks secret, said in a memo to players on Dec 31 the talks were “active and productive” and the PGA was working to extend talks into 2024.

Three of the past five Major winners are now with LIV Golf – Rahm, 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and 2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith – even though its lack of world-ranking points means fewer LIV golfers qualify for Majors.

For now, the only events where LIV and PGA rivals will both compete at are 2024’s Majors – the Masters from April 11 to 14 at Augusta National, the PGA Championship at Valhalla from May 16 to 19, the June 13-16 US Open at Pinehurst and the British Open at Royal Troon from July 18 to 21.

Tiger Woods, a 15-time Major winner and member of the PGA Tour policy board that must approve any LIV deal, said in December he was “pleased at the process and how it has evolved” in PIF talks but frustrated by its slowness.

Asked how a merged PGA-LIV series would work, he said “the answer is murky”, citing a large slew of possibilities and trying to find what works best for players.

“I’m confident a deal will get done in some way,” he added. “We’re working together. We’re trying to get a deal done for the tour and for all parties involved.”

Until then, the PGA Tour’s revamped 2024 schedule includes eight signature tournaments in a 36-event line-up ending with the FedExCup play-offs that conclude on Sept 1.

Other signature events are Pebble Beach, the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship, the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship. AFP