Xander Schauffele makes grim PGA Tour/LIV Golf prediction

Major champion Xander Schauffele has suggested the PGA Tour might take another five years to settle their differences with LIV Golf. 

But the American believes by that point the schism will be a distant memory and we'll laugh about the split at the top of the elite men's game. 

Schauffele made the comments ahead of his first event since claiming his maiden major championship last month at Valhalla Golf Club. 

He arrives at Muirfield Village for the Memorial Tournament having already turned heads by putting PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan on full blast. 

But while it was clear he would welcome a change in leadership as soon as possible, he's taking a more relaxed attitude to the bigger picture. 

"I don't know what the timeframe would be, but four, five years," Schauffele told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. 

"I guess it might even be longer than that, who even knows, but this will just be a small blip everyone will laugh about, remember when golf was really fractured and everyone was talking crap about golf and where it is and all that stuff, you'll laugh about it in five or six years, it's funny how media and people will behave in certain environments when you kind of take your self out of it. 

"So I imagine golf will be back together, everyone will be playing golf again together. 

"I don't know what that will look like, but I imagine people will be competing against each other again and the fans will have what they want in that respect."

The latest reports suggest the PGA Tour and LIV's backers, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, have exchanged terms for a deal. 

But last week, Lee Westwood told Peter Finch's podcast he thinks the two sides are still miles apart.

Therefore, it is looking increasingly likely the two tours will go it alone as we approach the one-year anniversary of the 6 June 2023 framework agreement announcement. 

Does Schauffele want to see everyone back together?

"I think most sports that have been fractured, for whatever reason, historically have always come back together at some point," he said.  

"Just stronger, you know, [it is better to have] strength in numbers when it comes to that kind of stuff, especially if you don't have a Tiger Woods, you know, driving everything for you."

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