Report: DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley was in talks with PIF in June 2021
According to a report, the DP World Tour CEO was in talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) back in 2021.
DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley was talking with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) all the way back in June 2021, according to a report by Sports Illustrated's Bob Harig and Alex Miceli.
A month ago, the golf world was turned upside down when the PGA Tour announced a joint agreement between itself, the DP World Tour and the PIF, which notably finances LIV Golf.
It came as a shock to many after over a year of disputes, suspensions, and disagreements between the PGA Tour and its rival, LIV Golf.
Rory McIlroy, who was gearing up to defend his RBC Canadian Open title the week the news was released, told reporters in Toronto that he had only found out about the agreement shortly before it went public.
Since then, little has been revealed about what this agreement means for men's professional golf.
Per the original announcement 6 June, the agreement will combine the golf-related businesses and rights of the three parties to form an entirely new, for-profit entity.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will be that entity's CEO, while PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will serve as board chairman.
Earlier this week, Twitter account @desertdufferlLG posted documents that were reportedly typed up for Tiger Woods by the PGA Tour to be said during a player's meeting at the 2022 Travelers Championship.
The documents were for Woods to "rally the troops" amid players leaving for LIV Golf, per the account.
At last year’s @TravelersChamp, Monahan held a player town hall meeting to discuss the LIV defections. He and his team planned to bring in the big gun—@TigerWoods—to rally the troops (no idea whether Tiger actually showed). He drafted exactly the kind of horseshit you’d expect. pic.twitter.com/eLHwnZTIsi
— duffer (@desertdufferLLG) July 1, 2023
On Sunday, Woods posted on Twitter that he'd never seen the documents before.
In response to the talking points memo released this weekend, I have never seen this document until today, and I did not attend the players meeting for which it was prepared at the 2022 Travelers.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) July 2, 2023
According to Sports Illustrated, the 357 pages of documents - including those tweeted by the @desertdufferLLG account - were recently made public as part of an antitrust suit against the PGA Tour by attorney Larry Klayman.
They also reported that DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley was speaking with the PIF in June 2021 - six months before LIV Golf was announced and a year before its first event - despite its on-going relationship with the PGA Tour.
Since then, however, the DP World Tour and PGA Tour have announced a deepening of their partnership, which included the co-sanctioning of certain events, and that top-10 players on the season-long DP World Tour points race would earn PGA Tour status for the following season.
One of these co-sanctioned events is the Genesis Scottish Open, which is scheduled for next week.
A week following that is the 151st Open Championship, where LIV Golf, PGA Tour, and DP World Tour players will meet for the final time in 2023.
