PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan returned to the White House Thursday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second time this month.
Multiple sources confirmed the meeting — which was initiated by Trump — also included Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, who are player directors on the circuit’s policy board, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The meeting began at noon ET and is considered a critical next step in the ongoing negotiations between the Tour and PIF, which owns LIV Golf. The two sides reached a framework agreement in June 2023 to reunify the professional game, but the talks have been bogged down by a Department of Justice investigation into possible antitrust violations, and potential terms.
“For [Trump] to respond to our request to sit down and talk about how we achieve what he stated publicly as a goal, which is the game of golf operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that one tour, was a great opportunity. We had a really productive conversation,” Monahan said last week of the first meeting with Trump on Feb. 4.
Woods, following the death of his mother, didn’t attend the first meeting between the Tour and the president, and Al-Rumayyan’s addition to the working session suggests an escalation in the talks, although there is no timeline for a potential deal.
“We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years and the fans want all of us to play together, all the top players playing together and we’re going to make that happen,” Woods said Sunday during the final-round broadcast of the Genesis Invitational.
Golf Channel will provide in-depth coverage of the on-going negotiations during Thursday’s “Golf Central Pregame,” beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
Any potential deal between the Tour and PIF would be in principle and would also require full approval by the circuit’s policy board.
Woods recently played golf with Trump in South Florida and the president has stated on numerous occasions his desire to reunite the game. Trump also hosts LIV Golf events at his golf courses, including in April at Doral in Florida.
