Keith Pelley makes prediction over PGA Tour/LIV Golf future

Outgoing DP World Tour boss Keith Pelley is preparing to leave his post at a critical juncture in men’s professional golf. 

Pelley departs as chief executive of the European Tour Group at the end of this month after eight-and-a-half years in the role to run Maple Leaf Sports back in his native Canada.

Meanwhile, a deal to unify the elite male game appears to be on a knife edge as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund bankrolling LIV Golf aim to strike a definitive agreement to end the ongoing turbulence.

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“Would I love to stay and see it through? Yes,” Pelley said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “But you can’t control timing.”

Pelley is adamant that he has “absolutely no regrets” about his tenure after steering his circuit through the challenges of the Covid pandemic, extending the ‘strategic alliance’ with the PGA Tour and dealing with the storm created by LIV’s emergence.

And he believes complete unification between the tours is “inevitable”, even if it takes up to a decade to reach that point.

“Whether it be in six months, a year, two years or 10 years, I think people are coming to the realisation that a collective product is in the best interest of global golf,” Pelley said. “It is the only way growth and prize funds continue at this level. It is inevitable.”

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Rory McIlroy, who said that Pelley “will be missed” when he is replaced in the top job Guy Kinnings, has expressed concern that golf will remain fractured if the rival tours don’t come together and embrace a global game.

Pelley seems to concur with the four-time major champion.

“I’m very much aligned with Rory,” he added. “Rory is the player I have lent on the most, going back to the beginning. You need people who aren’t afraid to say what they really think.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.