The ongoing dilemma in the game of golf is about to get a lot more interesting in the months ahead as LIV Golf will see the first of their major contracts expire.
For most of the last two years, the focus has been on a potential merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. And in spite of glowing announcements from both sides and claims of talks, nothing has remotely transpired in real life that would signal any movement towards reunification.
And the extended timeline is not working in the favor of LIV.
GolfWeek’s Eamon Lynch has never been the biggest fan of LIV Golf. But a recent column on the impasse around the sport contains a fascinating footnote at the end of his article. There, Lynch reports that LIV star and former major winner Dustin Johnson’s contract with the Saudi golf league expires this year. Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will see their deals come up next year. And the nine figure signing bonuses afforded to golf stars for defecting may not be on offer the next time around.
Johnson’s LIV servitude expires this year, but he seems happily checked out from career ambition. DeChambeau and Koepka can walk away in ’26 if they wish. Only Rahm has a lengthy term ahead as Al-Rumayyan’s asset. LIV told its stars that any contract renewals won’t repeat the huge upfront payments that first lured them to the Saudi teat, so the earnings gap between the circuits has narrowed significantly, at least for those who are competitively relevant. If all that the PGA Tour wants by way of reunification is the return of the few men who matter, then it can simply wait until they’re contractually free and do what Scottie suggested, go ask ‘em.
There has been a lot of wonder and speculation around why the talks to reunify the sport have gotten nowhere. But in recent months, it has seemed as if the impetus to get a deal done has come to a grinding halt. Scottie Scheffler basically stopped the conversation in its tracks when he was asked about it at the Colonial last week.
But as PGA Tour ratings have rebounded this year and LIV Golf continues to struggle, why would the PGA merge at this point or give into any LIV demands? If the coffers aren’t truly bottomless and LIV Golf doesn’t have the same funds they once did to poach players or even retain them, then what does the PGA Tour have to worry about in the long run? Lynch also states that the PGA Tour’s own billionaire investors in the Strategic Sports Group haven’t even been utilized yet, giving them even less of a need for Saudi funds and influence over the sport.
As Lynch indicates there are really only a small handful of golfers that the PGA Tour currently misses on a weekly basis – DeChambeau, Koepka, and Jon Rahm being amongst them. Brooks Koepka hasn’t exactly championed the renegade tour in his public comments. If just one of these stars finds their way back to the PGA Tour in the next 12-24 months and a deal is arranged to welcome them home, it could signal that LIV’s power play to disrupt golf might ultimately fail.