LIV Golf open to PGA resolution and in talks over team sales, says president
LIV Golf chiefs insist they remain open to working with the PGA Tour amid apparently receding prospects of a merger of interests but are focused on the next phase of their business, including the sale of stakes in two teams.
More than two and a half years after a “framework agreement” was announced for the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf to unite under a single governing body, hopes of a full peace deal appear to be receding.
Legal disputes between the tours have been paused but LIV Golf’s high-profile commercial deals with Rolex and HSBC, switch to a 72-hole format and attainment of world ranking points has beefed up its claims as a competitor to the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf president Chris Heck, who joined the Saudi-backed challenger circuit last year, told CityAM: “That was also before my time. In many ways, it is something that isn’t real to me, because we just focus on ourselves. Are we open to ideas and collaborations? Of course we are.
“We want what’s best for golf and we’re in it for the long haul. We are rooting for golf, and where that takes us isn’t always in our control as we see on a day to day basis.”
LIV Golf began its fifth season over the weekend in Riyadh, following a close-season shake-up that saw Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed return to the PGA Tour and multiple teams rebrand to lean into their playing demographic.
CEO Scott O’Neil’s arrival in early 2025 has coincided with LIV Golf adopting a more conciliatory tone than under predecessor Greg Norman. The result has been a swathe of sponsorships, culminating in last month’s deal with long-time golf backer Rolex.
Among the tour’s priorities for this year is the sale of minority stakes in two of its 13 teams. It has appointed Citi’s Global Sports Advisory to hold talks with potential investors, including private equity and family offices.
“I would say that we’re at the latter stages of preparation,” added Heck. “We field a lot of interest and calls. We have started sit-down meetings. We have robust and detailed valuations, and we have a business model that we’re quite excited about to share with people.”
LIV Golf team sales to trigger domino effect
Heck wouldn’t be drawn on the valuations or revenue multiples being applied, but said: “We have a proven model that teams can be profitable, which several of them are right now, and we think that will be very much a consistent model.”
Some team captains, who hold equity, are keen to sell stakes “earlier than later, and some want to pull back and wait and see”, but Heck expects the first deals to trigger a domino effect.
“It’s like selling HSBC after Salesforce and before Rolex, one great deal lends itself to the next,” he said. “So when we do our first deal, I firmly believe that’ll set up and sell the next several deals.”
Australian rising star Elvis Smylie, a close-season addition to Cameron Smith’s Ripper team, marked his LIV Golf debut with a win in Riyadh. Heck believes the tour is entering a new phase featuring more emphasis on youth.
“You will see that being very much our third chapter of LIV Golf,” he said, “with the legends and iconic golfers, the next Hall of Fame golfers that are winning right now at the highest level – Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and so forth – and then the young guns, too, that we think will be cultivated to be major winners and some of golf’s greatest players coming up.”