PGA Tour reports 'progress' without details in meeting with Saudi wealth fund leaders
The PGA Tour is reporting progress without any details in its ongoing negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia
The PGA Tour reported progress without details from a face-to-face meeting between its negotiating committee and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia as it tries to work toward a deal.
“We want to get this right, and we are approaching discussions with careful consideration for our players, our fans, our partners and the game's future,” the tour said in a statement released Saturday morning.
The meeting in New York on Friday evening involved the “transaction committee” of PGA Tour Enterprises and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that pays for rival LIV Golf.
Rory McIlroy is on the committee and said he was encouraged by the progress. He referred to the three-hour meeting as “very productive, very constructive, very collaborative.”
“Definitely things are heading in the right direction,” McIlroy said after the third round of the Memorial. He participated on a video call. “A lot of progress was made. I can’t really say much more than that, but it was really positive.”
PGA Tour Enterprises is the commercial group that came out of the framework agreement announced a year ago among the PGA Tour, PIF and the European tour.
PGA Tour Enterprises brought on Strategic Sports Group, which invested an initial $1.5 billion earlier this year. Negotiations are ongoing to bring in PIF as a minority investor, and there has been more activity than previously believed.
McIlroy, who joined Tiger Woods and Adam Scott on the transaction committee, said it has been meeting with PIF representatives every Monday, Wednesday and Friday over the last couple of weeks. The
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