Golf

Scottie Scheffler concerned by lack of 'clarity' around proposed LIV Golf merger

World number one Scottie Scheffler
World number one Scottie Scheffler

WORLD number one Scottie Scheffler admits he is concerned by the lack of detail about the proposed deal between golf's rival factions.

More than a month has passed since the shock announcement that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour plan to merge their commercial operations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls the breakaway LIV Golf League.

But information on what that will actually mean for the players remains thin on the ground, even after two PGA Tour officials gave evidence to a Senate subcommittee in Washington DC on Tuesday which lasted almost three hours.

"I just think that yesterday we didn't really learn a whole lot again," Scheffler said. "As a player on Tour, we still don't really have a lot of clarity as to what's going on and that's a bit worrisome.

"They keep saying it's a player-run organisation and we don't really have the information that we need. I watched part of yesterday and didn't learn anything so I really don't know what to say.

"It's just a framework agreement right now so I don't know what that entails. We are not involved in any of the discussions. None of the players were involved in the original framework agreement."

Scheffler does not feel he should have personally been involved in the process, but that the five players who sit on the PGA Tour's policy board - Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati - certainly should have been.

"We are the ones that voted to put them in that position to be there and we want their voices to be heard, and that was really the only frustration with the original announcement is that none of those four or five guys were involved at all," Scheffler added.

"But as far as how things are going now, there's open lines of communication. We have had numerous discussions with the Tour officials and players as weeks have gone on with stuff, and I feel like we're going in the right direction.

"I love playing golf on the PGA Tour and I'm hoping that's going to exist for a long time. I felt like we were doing a good job before and then the agreement happened and now we have to navigate the whole deal."