PGA Tour and LIV Golf bosses set to meet this week but merger won't be priority

The DP World Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship will see the bosses of the sport's three marquee circuits all meet at the Home of Golf in St Andrews this week

PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, and CEO of the Public Investment Saudi Arabia, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, are set to cross paths in Scotland for this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Per The Telegraph, Monahan is one of the amateur competitors playing in the Pro-Am event which gets underway on Thursday, with Saudi chief Al-Rumayyan also expected to tee it up. Monahan and Al-Rumayyan are currently at the centre of negotiations that are expected to reunite men's professional golf.

Following a shock framework agreement last June, the two bosses and their teams have been in talks over ending the PGA Tour's fallout with LIV Golf, with the hope of the two rival tours coexisting peacefully.

While these negotiations have been taking place behind closed doors, Monahan and Al-Rumayyan are set to appear in the public eye this week, with DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings also expected be on site in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on the action on the golf course and it remains to be seen whether any so-called 'merger' talks will take place.

More than 15 months on from the initial framework agreement announcement, it has appeared from the outside looking in that little progress on a peace deal had been made. Earlier this month, members of both the PGA Tour and PIF held talks in-person talks in New York in a bid to accelerate their negotiations.

While updates on the discussions have been sparse, Kinnings lifted the lid at the recent BMW PGA Championship having also attended the meetings. "I'm very hopeful," he told Sky Sports. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity for the game to come together and become more harmonious and global.

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"There's an ongoing process within the US between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund, but in the room those discussions are ourselves, DP World Tour and the Strategic Sports Group. I think everyone has the right attitude going into that and doing the right thing for the game and taking it forward.

"I see it as an opportunity and, hopefully, it will be what's good for players, fans and everyone else." Those involved had initially set a target of December 31, 2023 to reach a finalised agreement, but this was of course a target that was missed.

Revealing that patience was needed, Monahan claimed at August's Tour Championship: "I see that in all these conversations on both sides, that creates optimism about the future and our ability to come together. "At the same time, these conversations are complex, they're going to take time

"They have taken time and they will continue to take time. "When I sit here today, I think the most important thing is our obligation to fans, players and partners is to focus on what we control, which we're doing as I outlined and continue to carry this momentum forward. I'm not going to negotiate details in public or disclose details or specifics, but all I can say is that conversations continue and they're productive.”