Is PIF-PGA Tour Merger Fractured Beyond Repair? Xander Schauffele Delivers Honest Verdict Amid Agonizing Delay

It’s been almost a year since the June 6 merger agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and PIF, the Saudi sovereign fund financing LIV Golf. The progress has been slow; the PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, met the policy board members for the first time in March.

Even Rory McIlroy lamented the slow pace of the negotiations. As did one of the architects of the framework agreement, Jimmy Dunne, while resigning. The future might appear bleak, but Xander Schauffele believes ‘golf will be back together’ in the coming years. Arguably, the bitterness has reduced. Players from both sides of the fence have decided to bury the hatchet. Perhaps, none more so than Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson. Calls for unison have resonated in McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau’s voices.

Schauffele believes that maybe five or six years from now, this will just be a bad memory that everyone can laugh about. “I imagine hopefully, I don’t know what the timeframe would be, but four, five years or 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, said the 2024 PGA Championship winner, “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.”

In the 30-year-old’s vision for the future, top golfers will play against each other more often. The Masters and the PGA Championship showed what that might look like. Bryson DeChambeau was in contention, till the third round at Augusta National and till the 72nd hole at Valhalla. 

Fans were the ultimate winner in the thrilling duel. And, Schauffele believes once the dust has settled into the merger agreement, “fans will have what they want in that respect. One sticking point still remains how players who left for LIV will be inducted back into the fold. Some of the bigwigs, who remained loyal, wanted to see some sort of repercussion. Schauffele, though, passes the baton to the PGA Tour policy board members to decide.

Interestingly enough, Xander Schauffele also believes that it’s not a mere wish, but perhaps a necessity. Without big names in the field, the PGA Tour has witnessed a ratings slump for a major part of the year. Although the last few tournaments have arrested that downtrend, the world no.2 admits the game needs to ‘come back stronger’ and it will. 

Xander Schauffele brings Tiger Woods into the conversation

The San Diego State alum affirmed that not just the PGA Tour but also golf would bounce back stronger. That has historically been the case, Schauffele pointed out. And, when you don’t have a needle-mover like a certain Tiger Woods, you need to do everything you can to retain viewership. “I think most sports that have been fractured, for whatever reason, historically have always come back together at some point. Just stronger, you know, 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,” Xander Schauffele said in the press conference ahead of the Memorial.

Schauffele was rumored to join LIV Golf several times. And the 30-year-old doesn’t hide the fact that he had had talks with LIV officials. Regardless, he decided to stay loyal to the elite American circuit. The eight-time PGA Tour winner will tee off at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Thursday, June 6.