PGA Tour - PIF 'deal in principle' could be emerging from meeting with President Donald Trump - REPORT
On February 20, members of the PGA Tour went to the White House to meet with Donald Trump. It's the second time a group of PGA representatives, including commissioner Jay Monahan, have gone to the White House during the month of February.
Now, Golf Channel is reporting that there is a "deal in principle" that could be on the way by day's end. Soon, the PIF and PGA could have finally reached an agreement after a year and a half of negotiating.
Insider Rex Hoggard said:
"It's a critical next step... the addition of Tiger Woods who couldn't attend the February 4 meeting following the death of his mother as well as Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, this is clearly an escalation in trying to reunify the game."
Hoggard added:
"Certainly there could be a deal in principle. As far as the final deal, there would have to be a lot of work still to be done, I would guess... And I would guess lawyers on both sides would want to take a hard look at that."
The reporter noted that the DP World Tour would have a say as well as the PGA Tour policy board, so even a deal in principle would still have significant hoops to jump through.
PGA Tour lead Jay Monahan confirmed he was working towards 'what the fans want'
Jay Monahan went to the White House along with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott to talk with President Donald Trump about getting the PGA Tour merger with PIF moving in the right direction. They seem to have made some promising headway and could be barreling towards a resolution.
He said before that this is all in service of what fans want. Via Golf Digest, he revealed:
“Listen, if you think about what the fans want, the fans want reunification. That's what we're focused on. We've operated in a world where there's more than one and the PGA Tour has performed very well. But in the long run, is that the best thing for fans? Is that the best thing for the game? We're trying to solve it so everybody benefits.”
As for the timetable, the fans could have something to cling to soon, though a finalized deal and the effects of said deal would still be a while from happening.