PGA Tour investor makes LIV merger admission

The chances of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merging have been handed a boost.

Steve Cohen, a US hedge fund manager who owns Major League Baseball franchise the New York Mets, said he expects the sides to ‘reunite’.

His family firm, Cohen Private Ventures, is part of the investor group that injected capital into PGA Tour Enterprises earlier this year.

“It’s a lot of moving parts and I think we’ll get there,” Cohen said at a media event in New York on Monday.

“The goal is to reunite all the players – it’s fragmented right now. Getting to play in one tournament, one venue, whatever it is, is exciting.”

It’s been almost 18 months since the sides agreed to a deal that would end the feud in the men’s professional game.

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But LIV, bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, and the PGA Tour, have not been able to strike a compromise yet.

In a bid to fight off the new kid on the block, the Strategic Sports Group committed $3 billion to the PGA Tour in January.

Cohen is one of the principles who make up the investors that are part of SSG and, in April, he gave an insight into the monstrous cash injection.

“We think the ways it’s been run; we think we can improve the operations and make it much more profitable,” he told Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“Golf’s at a moment where there’s a lot of stuff going on that needs to be worked out generally.

“But we think we can work it out and we’re excited to get involved and help the sport grow.”

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Cohen will soon turn his attention to TGL, which debuts in January and kicks off with his franchise the New York Golf Club.

Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Jimmy Fallon, John McEnroe, Michael Strahan and CC Sabathia invested in the team, made up of Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.