Golf's Grand No Deal
One year in, golf is no closer to a resolution
Just about a year ago, one of the first entries of this newsletter covered the shock announcement that the PGA Tour — then at war with the Saudi-backed LIV Tour — was calling a truce and striking a deal with the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to reshape golf.
So first off, happy birthday to All Fields! No gifts, please.
And definitely no gifts for the new golf league that has still yet to materialize. You can, however, sign the going-away card we all got for Jimmy Dunne.
Dunne was the lead negotiator on that deal, which doesn’t exactly leap off a resume right now. After a year of blown deadlines, nothing has come together, which is part of the reason why I say he was the lead negotiator.
Dunne stepped down from the PGA Tour Policy Board a few weeks ago, leaving a smoldering trail of grievance in his stead:
“I have not been asked to take part in negotiations with the PIF since June 2023. During my testimony at the Senate hearing, I said it was my intention to cast my vote alongside the Player Directors if a final agreement was reached with the PIF. Since the players now outnumber the Independent Directors on the Board, and no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with the PIF, I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous.”
This is the Chris Paul frustration foul of resignation letters. Wonder how the exit interview went.1 His departure seems to have triggered another one, as a second member of the PGA Tour policy board, Mark Flaherty, followed suit a few days later. There’s a selloff on board directors, apparently.
Dunne, it would seem, is within his rights to be critical. He’s a Wall Street guy. I’m sure he signed on with the intention of reaching a deal rather than just talking about one. I bet he even feels a little betrayed. Imagine that!
Here and now, one year after Dunne stuck a knife in the back of all the many golfers who’d dutifully defended the PGA Tour, no one seems much closer to clarity, least of all us.
No less than Tiger Woods, one of the confusingly capitalized Player Directors that Dunne referred to in his letter, says there’s a “long way to go still” before any kind of agreement.
"It's ongoing, it's fluid. It changes day-to-day. Has there been progress? Yes, but it's an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process. And so we're making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we're making steps."
Encouraging! When I read that, I basically infer the following: settle in. This is gonna be a while.
As of this week, DealBook reports that term sheets are still trading hands. Maybe the PIF investment is more like $1.5 billion now, now that the PGA Tour has already secured the same amount from American investors. Maybe they’ll go halfsies. TBD.
The purgatorial state of the sport is only a viewing problem for the more serious fans who are watching tournaments beyond the four majors. The Masters and the rest, they worked it out. It never made much sense for them to blacklist some of the game’s biggest stars.
We just watched an entertaining finale to the PGA Championship, where the PGA Tour’s Xander Schauffele just barely held off notorious LIV defector Bryson DeChambeau by a single stroke. The majors want to showcase the talent that can make that drama possible.
I’m not one of those fans who watch beyond those few tournaments, so I can’t speak to how they’re feeling about all this, but I’d probably be annoyed if the field was consistently weaker than it should be at a bunch of events that used to be more competitive pre-LIV. That strikes me as a fair reaction.
Dunne also included this parting shot in his letter:
“It is crucial for the Board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the Tour. Unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game. I have tried my best to move all minds in that direction.”2
It’s a parting shot and, in my reading, a warning shot. There’s a tone to this, in addition to the move itself, that suggests he’s not too thrilled with where the players have taken negotiations since gaining more (as in any) influence over the shape of what is still a theoretical deal.
That tracks with reporting from Front Office Sports last month (emphasis mine):
“Two sources said that the main roadblock is the PGA Tour’s policy board, which wasn’t presented as such to PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. When the framework was announced, there was an even split between players and independent members on the policy board.
Then Tiger Woods was added to the policy board over the summer, giving the players the means to nix the deal.
Even before Woods’ addition, multiple players on the policy board — which includes Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, and Webb Simpson — took the framework with a grain of salt.
‘The players weren’t involved in creating that framework, so they basically wanted to start all over,’ one source said.”
If you take all that to be true, then you might find some sympathy in your heart for our pal Dunne. He worked hard to get something done, and as the talks continued to stagnate over the course of months, he resigned in a huff. The PGA Tour is bringing in investments from more geopolitically palatable moneybags than the Saudis these days, which might make some of you wonder why they ever pursued a LIV deal at all. You can count me among that group. Feels like a runaround, no? If that was always an option, why not just… do that in the first place?
There’s a case to be made that the shock of the PIF news got some capital moving that wouldn’t have been in play otherwise, but I’m not sure I necessarily buy that the PGA Tour masterminded this from the start.
In any case, let’s not make a martyr of Dunne. He bears as much responsibility as anyone for what were plainly secretive negotiations. I’d go as far as deception, given the party line they’d been giving the players. Getting something done without them knowing was the point. The fact that Dunne’s now been iced out by the same players he hid the deal from seems karmically fittingly.
My question is still how and whether this is ever going to get done. Part of it’s self-interested, I guess. I’ve spent all this time thinking about this! That can’t have all been for nothing, right?
Don’t you owe me this, golf? If that’s even your real name? You think you know somebody.
Then they fail to merge with their Saudi rival after talking about it all summer. Like, all summer with the will they, won’t they. We get it! If you’re gonna do it, just do it already. Some of us would like to play through.
Also, This
🎙️ I went on Joe Pompliano’s podcast this week to talk about the historic turn in college sports, which I also wrote about here, and did a whole docuseries on here.
Go and give it a listen, and if you don’t already read
, start doing that yesterday. Staple newsletter for me. Big thanks to Joe for having me on.🐻 The Chicago Bears are going on Hard Knocks this year, including #1 overall pick and presumptive franchise savior Caleb Williams. Is… that a good idea? Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t know if they need to be seeking out more scrutiny. I keep thinking of how that would’ve went for Bryce Young last year, or a closer comp, Trevor Lawrence in 2021. Remember that team? Remember Urban Meyer the NFL coach? Maybe they should’ve recorded that after all.
🏀 The field has broken pretty nicely for the Boston Celtics, who are back in the Finals after breezing through a depleted East. If they get a reasonably healthy Porzingis back, I think they’ve gotta be the pick, right? Should I pick against Luka? Probably not, but I'm doing it. I’m also used to thinking of the NBA as a little more predictable than I’d always like it to be, so I’m happily charmed by the mystery right now. I’d just like a long series. That’s my wishlist. Go basketball!
🏒 Playoff hockey is just the best. Was this not the coolest goal? These Panthers though, they are just undeniable in the 3rd. Really loving this time of year.
🏌️ Charges have been dropped against Scottie Scheffler, which seems more than appropriate given what we now know. For a second there, the tone of the coverage seemed like some people secretly wanted evidence that he was a dick. It is to that portion of the public’s immense disappointment then that Scheffler’s handled all of this better than most would in his position. Good to see cooler heads prevail for once.
⚾ Don’t look now (no seriously, don’t), but the Cardinals have won 12 of 15 to charge back to… .500 on the year. Hooray! Monitor this space for future anguish when this turns back south again. It’s the hope that gets you.
If he cleared the high bar he set in this interview, then I’ll be really impressed.
He then pulls out the truly classic “I want to express my sincere gratitude…” finale that always caps a statement like this. Play the hits, Jimmy. Never change.