PGA Tour officials, including Tiger Woods, met with representatives from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) this week in New York, despite the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks taking place on Wednesday.
The news of these discussions rightfully angered 9/11 families and many other New Yorkers. Rory McIlroy even called it “peculiar timing and did so from Royal County Down, where he is competing in this week’s Irish Open. Also teeing it up there is Padraig Harrington, who is never afraid to lend his perspective and offer solutions to any problem with one’s golf swing.
But Harrington, now 53, knows the professional golf landscape as well as anyone. He rose through the ranks of the then-European Tour before becoming a PGA Tour stalwart. As such, the Dubliner offered a solution to the divide between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, as the two circuits continue to operate separately.
“Ideally, for me, I would suggest that every PGA Tour and European Tour event have four invites for LIV players, and every LIV event should have four invites for an International team,” Harrington said at the Irish Open.
“That way, we have enough crossover to get Jon Rahm to play the European Tour and Abraham Ancer to play the Mexican Open. If four PGA Tour guys come over, it’s not like they are going to be welcomed with open arms; so that creates buzz at their events.”
Perhaps Harrington should withdraw from the Irish Open and fly to New York to participate in these meetings. All jokes aside, his perspective and ideas could be a good starting point for these negotiations.
Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan offered little insight into this deal while speaking at the Tour Championship on Aug. 28. Yet, Monahan did say that the priority of reaching an agreement had been “enhanced.”
“I think we are all being very patient right now. It’s 15 months since [PIF Governor] Yasir [al-Rumayyan] and Jay Monahan got together. It’s been frustrating, I think, for a lot of the players to see how slow everything has been going,” said Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald after his first round at the Irish Open.
“[But] I’ve heard in the last couple weeks there’s been a little bit more progress.”
Progress could accelerate if they called Harrington into the room.
“If we had four LIV players this week [at Royal County Down], [everyone] would be focused on them, and people would be watching it,” Harrington said.
“Some people would want them to do well, and others would want them to do badly. But that would create a bit of a buzz and vice versa. If four PGA Tour players or four international players turned up at a LIV event, they wouldn’t want that team winning; they wouldn’t want the outsiders. So that creates a bit of a buzz for them.”
Harrington then dropped an unfortunate prediction, which is probably the likeliest scenario from all of this.
“I don’t see the golfing merging. That’s what they are struggling with,” the Irishman said.
“It’s good for sport when you have rivalries; we’ve seen it at the majors this year. The majors have never been better because of those rivalries, so why couldn’t we have that this week? Why couldn’t we have a few guys—I’m sure Tyrrell [Hatton] playing two weeks ago at the British Masters created a great buzz. There will be a lot of home fans wanting him to do well and then there’s plenty of people who didn’t want him to do well. In the right context, that’s good.”
The final round of the 2024 U.S. Open produced the most thrilling finish golf had seen in quite some time. LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau against McIlroy, a champion of the PGA Tour’s causes in recent years. America versus Europe. YouTube viewers against legacy fandom. The comparisons do not stop there, but they all emphasize Harrington’s point: rivalries are healthy for sport. Look no further at other ones in golf history, all of which helped shape the sport we love: Arnie, Jack, Gary Player and Tom, Tiger versus Phil, Team USA against Team Europe.
But nowadays, LIV Golf and PGA Tour only compete side-by-side in the four majors, which have increased their significance but decreased the overall product of non-major events. It’s left golf fans out to dry, but the majors now have a heightened importance. They also seem to get bigger every year, no matter the venue.
“[My idea is] the only solution I see in golfing,” Harrington added.
“They can do all the business solutions—that’s a completely different thing—but you’re not convincing—like the guys on the PGA Tour have never had it better. You’re not convincing them that they are going to play an extra 10 or 14 events around the world. They have struggled with the idea of traveling to Asia or something like that. They are just not comfortable with the extra jet lag and all that.”
Because of LIV Golf’s rise to prominence, the PGA Tour countered with throwing even more money at its top stars. The tour also established Signature Events, a set of eight limited-field events that offer $20 million purses and hand $4 million to the winner. Most of them are no-cut events, thus guaranteeing that every star will play the weekend, a delight to the television partners.
Harrington understands all of this but knows his perspective only means so much.
“I’m not sitting at the top table,” Harrington said.
“That’s why I’m sitting in the media center telling you my solution.”
Based on these ideas and his outstanding worldview, perhaps Harrington should be sitting in the middle of the conference room, detailing what the PGA Tour and LIV Golf should do regarding the competition itself. Plenty of players would welcome that. Monahan and al-Rumayyan should too.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
