Mac Engel: LIV Golf-PGA Tour marriage looks like it will never walk down the aisle

INDIANAPOLIS — Saudi Arabia’s attempt to whiten its reputation through professional golf is the example of the terrible golfer who has all of the expensive equipment, latest gear and shoots 19-over par.

The $500 driver doesn’t convince anyone the guy swinging the club has a clue how to use it.

It is appropriate that the third year of LIV Golf is winding down its 2025 season in the city known as the Crossroads of America, which is exactly where this ambitious/expensive/controversial startup sits. Its second-to-last tournament of its season is this weekend in Indianapolis, played at a course you’ve never heard of in an event that you didn’t know, or care, exists.

Gauged by the locals in Indianapolis, a city (and state) that seldom has hosted major pro golf tournaments is currently more interested in, in order, Indiana Fever games, Caitlin Clark injury updates, Indianapolis Colts preseason news, Indiana Pacers 2025 NBA playoff highlights, Indiana Hoosiers football, Notre Dame women’s basketball, Purdue men’s basketball recruiting, Indiana State baseball, Ball State kickball, Depauw University women’s golf, Wabash College wrestling, LIV Golf.

While the backlash of this tour funded by Saudi Arabia’s massive pile of money has mostly faded, the audience remains mostly a crowd looking for something to do. They don’t care who wins. They aren’t paying attention to the new rules. They probably don’t even know who is playing.

Because it’s supported by Saudi Arabia’s inexhaustible PIF fund, LIV Golf can outlive both Keith Richards and the heartiest cockroach. And the PGA Tour will ultimately win this boring battles of millionaires versus millionaires, lawyers versus lawyers, a Royal family and a president, too.

Roughly one year ago, former PGA Tour and current LIV golfer Ian Poulter issued this dire warning to myself at the end of an interview: “Not next year.” This was in response to an innocent question about when the once imminent merger between the PGA Tour and LIV would actually be complete.

It’s a year later, and Poulter’s answer still applies.

Norman, Mickelson win. But who else?

In June of 2023, a few powerful members of the PGA Tour succumbed to the perceived financial pressure wielded by LIV to announce it would merge with the new league that was buying the top names in the sport. The announcement was a major win for the Saudi family, former PGA Tour star Greg Norman and the Tour players who left for LIV in exchange for amounts of money that didn’t seem possible.

We are more than two years removed from that announcement, and still no closer to The Announcement. We should no longer expect one.

The winners here are Norman and his buddy Phil Mickelson. Norman already hated the PGA Tour long before he became a prominent face of LIV; Mickelson bailed on the Tour because of ... ”spending habits.”

LIV has added more tournaments to it schedule, and it is aggressive in the markets that host events to try to bring in the crowds. As a golf product, it’s not bad.

It negotiated a multi-year broadcast agreement with Fox Sports to air half of its tournaments across several of that network’s channels. Unlike LIV’s previous broadcast right’s agreement with the CW, which was a revenue-sharing deal, Fox reportedly did pay a fee to carry these tournaments.

DeChambeau, others lose spotlight

This is all progress for a startup sports league. To the average golf fan, all of this progress means they now see the names that were once the most prominent in the sport but three to four times a year. Golf fans aren’t taking LIV seriously, and the irrelevance of the league is impossible to dismiss.

The other PGA Tour stars who left, like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and the few others, got their money, and inclusion to the majors. These are big wins, but in return they became obscure golfers who offer nothing to potential sponsors.

This has been the one element to this crippling adventure that the LIV golfers badly misread. As much money as a pro golfer can make in prize money, the big, easy, cash is in endorsements. LIV golfers are not finding the same types, or any, opportunity to endorse anything.

Sponsors want eyeballs, and LIV isn’t attracting many. Winning an LIV tournament doesn’t make a player a star, or enhance a resume. Plus, there are just enough remnants of anger at players taking Saudi money that some potential sponsors don’t want anything to do with it. There is a reason no company is a title sponsor of any of LIV’s tournaments.

As much deserved anger and criticism that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan received for his butchering of this whole situation from Day 1, in the last year-plus he has shown the good sense to read the room on this “merger.”

There is no reason to move on a partnership, so he won’t. He has one year remaining on his contract as commissioner, and it’s likely he will leave this issue to his successor.

The most visible LIV players signed contracts that should be expiring in the next year, which means we are likely to see some of those names ask to rejoin the PGA Tour. Expect to hear grumblings about that early in 2026.

That reunion would potentially be messy, and lead to some nasty name calling, but professional golf is better when all of the names are concentrated in the same tournament rather than spread out over two leagues.

There is almost zero public support, or pressure, on the PGA Tour to make this merger happen.

Former PGA Tour player turned LIV golfer Lee Westwood’s hope was the two leagues could “be side-by-side and occupy some of the golf ecosystem space.” Golf is a niche sport and not big enough for competing leagues.

LIV Golf may live forever, but it’s apparent it will never merge with the PGA Tour.