Winners and losers as PGA Tour’s LIV Golf merger talks reach one year milestone

The one-year anniversary of the PGA Tour’s shock framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) past last week, with those in charge at the top of professional golf still locked in negotiations 12 months on.

The sport was left rocked last June, after a beaming Jay Monahan was joined by PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan to announce their plans to end the civil war in pro golf. It was initially expected that the deal would see players on the PGA Tour reunite with those who made the switch to LIV Golf, but as things stand, nothing is yet to be finalised.

Whilst there has not been much progress when it comes to a physical deal, the fallout surrounding the negotiations has continued over the past year, with some of the biggest names from both sides having their say.

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With the negotiations seemingly taking longer than first thought, it still remains to be seen what the future holds for professional golf, and who will benefit most. Twelve months on from the initial framework agreement, here is a look at golf’s biggest winners and losers from the year that has followed.

Winners

Yasir Al-Rumayyan

Arguably the biggest beneficiary over the past 12 months has been PIF chief Al-Rumayyan. The Saudi boss has been keen to get himself a seat at the top table of professional golf for some time, and it appeared his venture with the LIV setup was the first step of his attempt.

Initially, Al-Rumayyan and PIF’s venture into pro golf was stifled by those at the PGA Tour, but the Saudi fund eventually got their way when Monahan and co announced their Middle Eastern u-turn last June. Since then Al-Rumayyan has been at the centre of talks surrounding the future of the sport, and was even reportedly treated to a round of golf with the great Tiger Woods as part of a PGA-PIF meeting in the Bahamas in March.

Jon Rahm

Many would say losing your PGA Tour status, slipping down the world rankings and putting his Ryder Cup future on the line would leave Jon Rahm a loser over the past 12 months, but the Spaniard has earned himself a spot as a winner in this list. The former world No. 1 became LIV’s biggest coup last December, after he made a shock move to the breakaway league for 2024.

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In doing so Rahm was handed the biggest mega-money LIV contract to date, after signing a deal with Greg Norman and co worth a reported £450 million. Additionally, the former green jacket winner was given the chance to run his own LIV franchise, naming his four-man team Legion XIII. Rahm is yet to win on the LIV setup, but finds himself second in the season-long standings.

Joaquin Niemann

The man leading Rahm in the standings so far in 2024 is the in-form Joaquin Niemann. Chilean national Niemann announced himself as one of golf’s hottest prospects at the turn of the decade before joining LIV in 2024. After a tough start to life on the Saudi-backed series, the Torque GC skipper has found a new lease of life on and off the course in recent months.

His loyalties with the LIV league has of course seen him drift down the world rankings, thus making him ineligible to compete in all four majors for 2024. In a bid to make a return to the major stage, Niemann ventured elsewhere, impressing on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour to earn invites to the Masters and PGA Championship.

His hot form away from the breakaway league then continued when LIV returned in February, with Niemann winning two of the three first events of the season in Mexico and Jeddah to leave him top of the standings after seven starts.

Bryson DeChambeau

Bryson DeChambeau has often been professional golf’s marmite during his time at the top of the pro game, and the contrast of opinion only heightened when joining LIV Golf in 2022. Over the past 12 months though, the former U.S. Open champion has come into his own, becoming a much more popular figure on both sides of the civil war.

On the course, the American has looked back to his best, leading his Crushers GC franchise to the Team Championship in 2023. This form has continued into 2024, and showed the PGA Tour exactly what they are missing at last month’s PGA Championship, putting in a hugely-entertaining performance to finish as runner-up by just one shot to Xander Schauffele at Valhalla..

Losers

Jay Monahan

The past year has been a difficult one for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. The commissioner initially led the assault against the LIV league in its earliest days, looking to halt the progress of the Saudi-backed series. Underestimating the power of the Saudi fund, the commissioner soon completed a u-turn, after announcing last June’s framework agreement.

This unsurprisingly did not sit well with a number of PGA Tour members, with the chief’s handling of the fallout criticised by many – including U.S. PGA champion Schauffele. Monahan has also become somewhat unpopular with those lower down the Tour food chain too, with a large group of the membership left unimpressed with the limited-field ‘Signature Events’ in 2024, which sees the circuit’s elite compete for an enhanced tournament purse.

Rory McIlroy

One man who has been at the centre of the saga for some time is Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman had announced himself as arguably LIV’s biggest critic, pledging his loyalties to the PGA Tour. This loyalty was tested last summer though, after McIlroy was left blind-sided to the Tour’s u-turn with PIF, which left the 34-year-old feeling like a ‘sacrificial lamb’.

Five months later, McIlroy – who has softened his stance on the LIV setup this campaign – opted to resign from his role as a player director, with the Northern Irishman’s past work seemingly taken advantage of. In recent weeks, McIlroy showed an interest to return as a player director, but this was rejected by his fellow players on the policy board.

The fans

Ultimately, the biggest loser over the past year of chaos has been those who watch the sport week-in-week-out. News of a framework agreement last June would have been music to the ears of most fans, who had grown tired of the money-fuelled fallout between the two tours.

Over 12 months on though, those who spectate the sport are still yet to see the world’s best golfers come back together, and with the saga continuing to unravel, it has come as no surprise to see viewership of top-level golf continue to fall.