Players seek 'full disclosure' of Saudi talks

A group of 21 rank-and-file PGA Tour players employed law firm Susman Godfrey LLP to address a letter to the PGA Tour policy board demanding more transparency over ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and an outside equity group.

The PGA Tour said in a memo on Sunday that it is advancing negotiations with the PIF, as a deadline to finalize details from the June 6 framework agreement approaches on Dec 31. The tour also revealed it is in talks with a consortium of US sports team owners led by Fenway Sports Group.

With the future of men's professional golf in the balance, players like Chez Reavie, James Hahn and Englishman Danny Willett want to know what's coming.

"The board has recently received multiple bids by prospective capital partners that will potentially transform how the PGA Tour operates, who controls it, and who owns it," attorney Jacob Buchdahl wrote. "All but a handful of PGA Tour players have been kept entirely in the dark about the prospective transaction, how it will impact them, and what conflicts of interest may impact the decision-makers.

"We demand full disclosure of the details and analyses of any proposals by prospective capital partners, which should be shared promptly with all tour players."

The policy board features the likes of Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth, and the further growing divide in the elite ranks of the sport could leave average PGA Tour players in limbo.

Reuters