PGA Tour “in charge” of spearheading the ‘future’ of men's golf post-PIF merger

The PGA-PIF merger is a major talking point of recent times. The interim co-leaders of the American golf circuit PGA Tour shared their thoughts and cleared some doubts after a meeting at the Detroit Golf Club.

The Tour's vice president Tyler Dennis spoke with Sports Illustrated and shared how the Tour will still be the major stakeholder in the new partnership with the Public Investment Fund. He was persistent with his thoughts of the American Golf Tour controlling the 'future' of men's golf.

"We wouldn't move forward without that. They understand that. As our players start to understand that, they start feeling better about the transaction. And that’s very clear that the PGA Tour will be in charge," said Dennis.

As per earlier reports, the partnership meant that they would be coming together, alongside the DP World Tour, to unify and financially stabilize the game of golf. This agreement gave the idea that the Saudi-backed LIV Golf will also co-exist with the other tours.

Spokespersons like Jimmy Dunne emphasized that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will take a final call on LIV Golf's future. However, when Tyler Dennis was asked these questions in several different versions, he said,

"I think you have to go back to what was announced and the spirit of the framework. And that's simply that working together and working in a way that's unified is going to be better for the sport, better for the professional game, better for the PGA Tour."

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COO Ron Price shares details of the new company formed by the PGA-PIF merger

As per Sports Illustrated, another official who shared details about the new partnership was Chief Operating Officer Ron Price. According to him, the American Golf Circuit will be the leader of the new company and will hold maximum power. He also shared the tentative name of the new company. He said,

"The [Tour] is fully in control of this new company, which we tentatively are calling PGA Tour Enterprises."

Price also shared that the new entity will be a tax-payer and will have no exemptions. When asked about individual players having a share in the to-be-formed company, he said,

"Nothing has been determined yet. There's a lot of things that we have to consider."

Price shared that golfers and other people were initially unable to understand the new agreement. However, after taking some time to explain, they gradually started to understand the framework.

Furthermore, he explained the removal of the Tour's non-profit status. Price shared that the Tour will itself oversee the working and governing aspects of the new entity. He added,

"A regulatory body that oversees the sport. So it clearly qualifies under 501(c)(6), even more so than it does today, because all the commercial activity has been moved out of it. It’s simply overseeing our competitions going forward."

According to the explanation provided by Tyler Dennis, Ron Price, and other Tour executives, the new company will allow all three parties involved to mutually analyze their assents. Later on, Saudi's Public Investment Funds will get an opportunity to buy minority shares of the new company.