This is Why a Deal Between The PGA Tour And LIV Golf is Imminent

There is a very good reason why I believe that we are finally on the verge of seeing a peace deal reached between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf - it’s all about the money. And not quite in the way you may think.

While it is true that the Saudi-backed PIF Fund that finances LIV has access to vast amounts of cash, it is not a bottomless pit. 

To date, the Saudis have pumped an almost unbelievable $5bn into the game. And what have they got in return for that "investment"? 

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They have torn the game asunder, causing a rift that many believe will take years to heal. They have set up a series of 54-hole tournaments that have mostly failed to capture the imagination of the golfing public. Of course there have been some notable exceptions - their recent tournament in Adelaide attracted around 100,000 paying spectators.

They have created a tour in which their players no longer accumulate world ranking points for their efforts. The likes of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka can now only garner ranking points via their play in the majors. Rahm has fallen out of the top 50, while Joaquin Niemann is currently the world’s 74th-ranked golfer - that is patently nonsensical.

LIV have generally failed to attract blue-chip sponsors. Indeed, Dustin Johnson, who was one of their marquee signings, has even lost his TaylorMade deal.

Despite signing a TV deal with Fox Sports, there is little evidence that fans are tuning in in any significant numbers.

And let’s not kid ourselves that life is much better on the PGA Tour. To compete with LIV, prize funds for the elite have increased dramatically. And Tiger Woods’ simulator golf league (for that is what it is) would not have existed without LIV and has also met with mixed reviews and disappointing TV figures. 

On top of all of this, the debate over slow play rages on, with the PGA Tour struggling to keep TV viewers, fed up with watching rounds of golf that take the thick end of six hours.

It is quite clear that all of this is unsustainable.

Several very high-profile figures in the know have been making positive noises. These include none other than Tiger Woods.

He said: "We are in a very positive place right now," Woods said on CBS Sports during their broadcast from San Diego. "We had a meeting with the President [Donald Trump]. Unfortunately I had some other circumstances that came up but Jay Monahan and Adam Scott did great during the meeting and we have a subsequent meeting coming up. Things are going to heal quickly. We're going to get this game going in the right direction. It has been headed in the wrong direction for a number of years.

"The fans want all the top players playing together and we're going to make that happen."

Paul McGinley is consistently the voice of common sense. He told BBC Sport: "The game has got to come together. The prize money is ridiculous. The business model is not producing the money the players are playing for. The PGA Tour is spending more than they're bringing in and they're going to run out of runway there. 

"So the game has got to come back. Nobody's winning at the moment, except for the players with the huge prize money they're playing for. 

"The sponsors are not winning and the public is not winning because we're not getting to see these players play together more regularly and TV is not winning." 

McGinley believes a deal could be announced before the Masters in April. And about time too.

The PGA Tour has been in protracted negotiations with LIV Golf's backers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), in an attempt to find a solution. 

"The best thing for the game is to come together somehow - it's not going to be easy as we've seen, it's taken a long time to get to where we are, but it sounds like we're closer now than we ever have been," McGinley said. "It's not going to start with everybody back as friends - it'll be a slow process in that regard.

"But the main thing is to find some kind of umbrella that both tours can work under as well as the DP World Tour and then try to get some kind of schedule out of that. There's going to be something announced and from what I hear, it's going to be announced relatively soon, maybe even before the Masters."

One man who will be rubbing his hands at the prospect of a peace deal is Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin, who only joined LIV in January, receiving a lucrative signing-on fee. In the process, he gave up his chance to claim a PGA Tour card. If a deal is done quickly it is likely he will get his chance to play on the PGA Tour while counting his cash. Nice work if you can get it.