PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan updated the PGA Tour membership with some details of what he termed a "productive" meeting with Saudi Investment Fund governor and LIV Golf benefactor Yasir Al Rumayyan.
The Monday meeting unfolded in the Bahamas, with the board of PGA Tour Enterprises, including player directors like Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth, as well as Tiger Woods, meeting Al Rumayyan for a "meet-and-greet."
In a text message to players, Monahan said, "The conversation throughout was constructive and represents an important part of our due diligence process in selecting potential investors for PGA Tour Enterprises. This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group."
Strategic Sports Group has already invested nearly $1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises, the new for-profit subsidiary company of the PGA Tour that holds the Tour's commercial assets, including media rights deals. The group, led by Fenway Sports Group, has committed as much as $3 billion to PGA Tour Enterprises, including nearly $1 billion toward a player-equity program.
Monahan and Strategic Sports Group have met with Al Rumayyan recently in Saudi Arabia, and Monahan said at last week's Players Championship that talks were "accelerating" some 10 months since a framework agreement was announced to outline the goals of future neogitations and form an armistic of sorts.
Monahan said Al Rumayyan talked to the player directors, who had not previously met Al Rumayyan.
"During the sessions, Yasir had the chance to introduce himself to our Player Directors and talk through his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf," Monahan said.
The PGA Tour commissioner did also note, though, that there won't be much more information about the meeting that trickles out to players as negotiations continue somewhat in secret.
"As we continue these discussions with PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand that we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public," he said. "To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time."
