Report: PGA Tour, PIF drop non-poaching clause in new agreement
The PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund had agreed not to poach each other's players, but abandoned that plan after Justice Department inquiry.
As the shock waves from the stunning announcement of a deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund recede, the practical realities of unification are coming to the forefront. Chief among those: how this new agreement will survive the extremely interested eyes of the Justice Department.
The DOJ is taking a close look at the agreement because of antitrust concerns, and a New York Times report indicates that scrutiny has already had an effect. The two sides have agreed to drop a provision not to poach one another's players for their two tours, the traditional PGA Tour and the upstart, breakaway LIV Golf tour.
The non-solicitation clause would not allow either of the two tours to "enter into any contract, agreement or understanding with" any "players who are members of the other’s tour or organization," according to the Times report.
The two sides agreed to remove the provision after DOJ scrutiny. Such an agreement could stifle competition for players, who are independent contractors and not employees of either tour.
The federal government is expected to decide in the coming months whether to begin proceedings to block the agreement of the two former antagonists. The agreement not to poach players was one of the key provisions, since the PGA Tour has claimed it faces an existential threat from the growth of LIV Golf.
The flow of players has so far run in one direction — from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf — because of the vast paychecks awaiting LIV players, and because of contractual restrictions that prevent LIV players from jumping back to the PGA Tour.
However, while LIV's individual tournament purses remain large — Cam Smith just won $4 million at the most recent event in London — the phenomenal signing bonuses may be a thing of the past. PGA Tour players turned down those large offers to stay with the Tour, only to see the Tour turn around and plan to dip into that same pool of Saudi money itself.
At the moment, the PGA Tour remains the most viable path back into majors for most players, since LIV does not have any kind of world ranking points structure that would allow its players to use their weekly performance to get into the golf world's biggest tournaments. In other words: LIV remains the path to more money, but the PGA Tour remains the path to more glory. For now.
