LIV Golf CEO says informal talks with PGA Tour ongoing, no deal imminent

Dec 8 : LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has said informal conversations between the Saudi-funded circuit and the PGA Tour are continuing but any hope of ending the sport's longest-running civil war is not currently on the horizon.

O'Neil maintains regular contact with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, a friend and former business-school classmate, but said their communication has not brought any meaningful progress towards finalising the framework agreement the two circuits announced in June 2023 before either were in their current role.

"The reality is we continue to have conversations, and Brian and I do have a relationship – we text, we talk relatively regularly," O'Neil told Reuters during an interview from LIV Golf's New York office.

"We are not in any serious negotiation at this point. We both believe that there are opportunities to work together, and we both believe that there is plenty of space in golf. We at LIV Golf are intently focused on developing LIV Golf around the world."

TRUMP'S INVOLVEMENT

LIV Golf, which held its inaugural event in June 2022, has shaken up the golf world like never before and, with the help of mega-money contracts and lucrative purses, has lured several top names from the PGA Tour into its stable of players.

LIV players include the likes of Bryson DeChambeau - considered golf's greatest showman - and fellow major champions Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.

After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, Europe-based DP World Tour and Saudi backers of LIV Golf announced in June 2023 a framework agreement to house their commercial operations in a new entity but have failed to reach a definitive agreement.

The divide has even captured the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, an avid golfer who was part