While the particulars of the PGA Tour and LIV Tour teaming up to ensure the future of golf remain relatively unknown, Dustin Johnson, one of the LIV Tour’s captains was told that the Saudi-backed venture will continue in full operation in 2024.
Johnson told ESPN that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, informed him that the LIV Golf will continue to play next year. The PIF is the main financier of LIV Golf.
The next stop on the LIV Golf schedule is a tournament at Real Club Valderrama in San Roque, Spain, starting June 30, one of seven tournaments left on the 2023 slate.
“Everything I’ve heard, they’re still working on a full schedule for next year,” Johnson said. “The rest of this year and 2024 is going to be the same as far as I know. After that, you know as much as I do.”
2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau likened the partnership to the AFL and NFL merger, which was announced in 1966, but did not form the current one league with two conferences structure until the 1970 season.
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“How that happens, I have no idea. I just know who has the first right of refusal and who’s the chairman,” he said.
DeChambeau also said he also talked with Al-Rumayyan before the partnership was announced.
“That is what was talked about,” DeChambeau said. “Those are private conversations, and I don’t know exactly what his future plans are because he was right about to go on CNBC. I didn’t know what all was going on, but he said a couple of other cool ideas that I think could be interesting for the game of golf. But we’ll see if it all happens because you’ve still got to dial in all of the details. There’s a lot of unknowns.”