Patrick Cantlay admits ‘nothing substantive’ is likely to come from PGA-LIV showdown talks on Monday – as star players prepare to sit down with Saudi’s PIF to discuss merger

Patrick Cantlay expects “nothing substantial” from the first meeting between the key players of the PGA Tour and the Saudi supporters of the LIV circuit.

The six members of the steering council of the Tour and the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund were invited to meet around a table on Monday to try to find a way out of a merger process which has passed the deadline of 31 December.

This could prove to be an important moment in the impasse, if only because it will be a late face-to-face between PIF leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the directors of Tour players, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Cantlay, Adam. Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati.

So far, Woods is the only member of those six who has not publicly committed to the meeting, due to his absence from the Players Championship this week, although there has been no suggestion he will snub the discussions despite rumors that he is more indifferent. that most have an agreement with the Saudis.

Although the meeting represents progress, Cantlay cautioned against hoping for a quick breakthrough. He said: “I have to listen to what they have to say and I will always do my best to represent the whole membership whenever I attend a meeting in this capacity.

“I imagine I’ll do a lot more listening than talking and I’ll have a lot more information afterwards.

“I doubt we will address anything substantial in the first meeting, just more of a meet and greet.”

Malnati admitted he did not know the details of the meeting – but expressed concern that the players took too much power after initially being kept out of secret merger negotiations before the shock announcement of a reconciliation on June 6. 2023.

He said on Saturday: “I think we almost swung the pendulum too far the other way after what happened on June 6 (the merger announcement), where the players were left in the black. Players probably feel like they have more influence than we should.

It is understood that Al-Rumayyan, also chairman of Newcastle United, is waiting to see who is willing to meet before committing to his own participation.

His hesitations are indicative of the delicacy of the discussions at a stage where there are fundamental disagreements between PGA Tours over the form that a possible reconciliation would take.

Rory McIlroy, who resigned from the political committee last year in exasperation, believes LIV players, including Jon Rahm, Dustin Johson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith, should be free to compete on the tour of the PGA without penalty, as a means of quickly ending hostilities and chaos.

Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas are among the influential voices who hold an opposing view, while McIlroy has also publicly expressed his disagreement with Spieth’s claims that the PIF is not necessary in the wake of the PGA Tour’s recent $3 billion deal with Strategic Sports. Band.

All of this supports the idea that the PGA Tour’s big names appear no closer to an agreement than they are with LIV.