Distrust is looming over the PGA tour as the deadline for a Saudi deal approaches

The PGA Tour is less than three weeks away from the deadline to finalize a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that it promised would transform professional golf into a global powerhouse and quiet years of acrimony.

But the bitterness clearly remains.

The outline of the plan called for combining the money-making activities of the PGA Tour, the venerable American circuit; and LIV Golf, the upstart league with billions of dollars in Saudi investment. However, the June 6 deal announcement fell short on the basics, including an overall appreciation and even modest support from many players. Six months later, there is still turmoil and distrust within the PGA Tour as players, board members and senior executives struggle to repair ties after secret talks that led to the Saudi deal surprised even many in the boardroom.

“Since June 6, trust has been broken at the highest level,” Adam Scott, who turned pro in 2000 and is now chairman of the tour’s Player Advisory Council, said in an interview this week. “Nothing has changed to restore that trust.”

Mr Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, will join the PGA Tour board next month. If he does, he will join a group that has felt splintered lately as players on the board have repeatedly clashed with some outside directors. The grudge won’t derail any deal as many players are open to significant outside investment. But their frustrations with the tour leaders – both over the secretive nature of how the deal came together and over the feeling that players do not have sufficient say in the way the sport is run – could shape decisions about the details and future composition of the tour can influence. board, which will influence the golf world for decades to come. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, said at the DealBook Summit last month that players “will ultimately be responsible for the deciding vote.”

The deal would give the wealth fund a significant stake in US golf as Saudi Arabia pours money into the sport in a bid to boost its reputation around the world. The country is facing headwinds outside the golf world, with the Justice Department ready to scrutinize any settlement for antitrust violations, senators digging into the tour’s ties with Saudi Arabia, and tour officials having spent months talking to potential U.S. investors .

The tour and the Saudi wealth funds set a December 31 deadline to finalize their deal, although the sides could extend their talks.

A spokesperson for the tour declined to comment.

The preliminary deal with the wealth fund, which came after the tour long insisted that LIV Golf was just an attempt by the Saudi government to distract people from its human rights record, sparked an uprising among players, many of whom had turned down LIV’s lucrative payouts. The clandestine nature of the negotiations also fueled anger. The tour tried to curb the rebellion in August when it agreed to add Tiger Woods to the board, bringing the count between golfers and outside directors to six. And it was promised that merchant banker Colin Neville, who had already been brought in to advise the players, would be “fully aware of the state of negotiations.”

The addition of Mr Woods was a boon for the players, who thought his swagger and cleverness would give their side more weight in the boardroom. It did. But Mr. Woods’ rise did not change certain realities, such as the voting thresholds needed to make significant changes. As expected, it also did not oust the two directors who secretly negotiated with the Saudis: the board chairman, Edward D. Herlihy, a partner at the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and James J. Dunne III, vice chairman of the investment bank Piper Sandler.

“I’ve learned that with any great board you need disagreements to get to the best solution, and we’ve had a lot of disagreements this year – even the players had disagreements,” said Webb Simpson, the 2012 US Open and member of the tour board. “But we’re all trying to get to a better place.”

Although the tour’s membership is limited to a fraction of the world’s best golfers, players have limited influence over the appointment of outside directors to the board. This has frustrated many players for a long time, who felt in a subordinate position compared to the independent board members. To further sour the atmosphere, an executive who many players saw as a loyal employee, former AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, resigned after the Saudi deal was announced. (Two players served on a committee that recommended Mr. Stephenson’s successor, Joseph W. Gorder.)

Charley Hoffman, a longtime player who sits on the board, said he thought “the independents have the best interests of the players at heart.” But the structure of the tour ultimately limited players’ influence on their tour, he and others said, a particular sore point after the Saudi deal.

“The word I hear echoing within the membership is ‘accountability,’” Mr. Hoffman said.

Amid this investigation, the tour is considering bringing in additional U.S. investors in addition to the Saudi wealth fund, which would ensure investment in the tour before what could be a lengthy review of the Saudi deal by regulators. The tour said on Sunday that talks had begun with Strategic Sports Group, an investment group led by Fenway Sports Group – the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club and, years ago, Mr Monahan’s employer.

Fenway would inject $3.5 billion into a newly formed for-profit company that would have a valuation of about $12 billion, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private financial matters. These terms, like most things with the deal, remain in flux.

The announcement last week that the Saudis had recruited Jon Rahm, the world’s No. 3 player, left disappointed and unnerved tour loyalists. It also sparked a wave of infighting, most prominently manifested in World War II a Sports Illustrated article which depicted golfer Patrick Cantlay as having outsized control over the fate of the tour. Mr. Cantlay, the article said, “seemed more concerned about catering to elite golfers like himself” and suggested he was the leader of a group “leading the negotiations.”

Mr. Cantlay is the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking (fifth), but other directors played down the idea that he was in charge.

“He just likes to think deeply and see if there’s something under the rocks that can make the organization better for everyone,” Mr. Hoffman said.

Jordan Spieth, a former British Open, Masters and US Open winner who sits on the board, admitted he was baffled by stories about Mr Cantlay as an obvious power centre. He thought that Mr.’s curious, tenacious style and vision. Cantlay had upset some people within the tour hierarchy.

“He has challenged people who have been in a position for a long time not to be challenged, and I think that upsets them,” Mr. Spieth said. “Because he comes from a place of trying to force a change where change is inevitable, but he does it in a way where the players play a huge role in what it looks like, challenging the status quo and making him a becomes a target.”

Mr Cantlay said his approach to the role has not changed since June 6 and that “my mentality generally is just to put my head down and try to get the job done.”

Mr Stephenson is not the only director to have left. Superstar Rory McIlroy resigned last month. Although his replacement, Mr. Spieth, is a well-liked tour with a record of board service, the turnover has caused unrest.

“The dynamic has clearly been disrupted,” Mr Scott said, adding: “The reasons don’t even really matter – at a critical time that’s not ideal.”

Some board members believe that once a deal is struck, tensions could almost automatically ease, especially if the composition of the board changes.

“If we all get back to golf and do what we actually know how to do,” Mr. Hoffman said wryly, “this will all slow down.”