Professional golf’s war over talent continued with Tony Finau announcing he will stay with the PGA Tour next season, rather than defect to LIV Golf, on Monday. The Telegraph reported Finau was in talks to join LIV over the weekend.
It’s at least a temporary blow to the Saudi-funded league’s momentum as top golfers have been leaving the PGA Tour weeks before the deadline for a deal between the tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
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“As this year comes to an end I’m grateful to play the game that I love and to have the opportunity to compete at the highest level,” Finau wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m excited for 2024 and looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour!”
This news comes days after two-time major winner Jon Rahm, 29, announced his departure for LIV. Rahm’s move was perhaps the most substantial LIV signing yet, a current top-three player in the world who had come out strongly against the league over the past two years. Now, it appears there could be a wave of high-profile signings following Rahm while PIF-PGA Tour negotiations continue.
Finau, 34, is one of the more marketable and well-liked players on the PGA Tour, sponsored by Nike and featured in an episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” documentary earlier this year. He has won six times on the PGA Tour, made the 2018 and 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup teams, and has ranked as high as No. 9 in the world, but much of his career has also been defined by criticism of not winning many marquee tournaments and not faring better in majors.
The tour and PIF agreed to a framework agreement on June 6 that operated as essentially an end to litigation between the tours and a promise to continue negotiating a possible deal by Dec. 31.
With weeks until that deadline, LIV has continued to pursue PGA Tour players while the tour announced Sunday it is advancing negotiations with Strategic Sports Group for outside investment. SSG is a consortium of U.S.-based billionaires with existing ownership of pro sports franchises — including Fenway Sports Group (Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, Pittsburgh Penguins), Tom Ricketts (Chicago Cubs), Steve Cohen (New York Mets) and Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons).
Why Finau might have left
The primary narrative around Finau has always been that he is simply a good guy, a family man with five kids who notably brought them to as many tournaments as possible. Combining those priorities with a career that often lends itself to criticism might be the perfect recipe for somebody like Finau to be interested in a LIV payday. LIV has often touted a relaxed 14-tournament schedule as one of the positives for golfers with families.
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After winning two smaller tournaments this spring and seeming like he turned a key corner, Finau’s game fell off to the point where he had just one top-20 finish in his next 10 full-field events. In his last eight major championships, he hasn’t finished better than T26. All of this played a part in Finau being left off the 2023 Ryder Cup team.
Why this is important
This depends on your outlook. If you believe no deal will happen between the tour and LIV, then this continues LIV’s massive momentum snagging one big-name player after another. Rahm and whoever else may join this winter further the reality that LIV has winners of seven of the last 15 majors and multiple top-level stars under the age of 35 like Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau. It’s becoming relevant, and its irrelevance has been the PGA Tour’s greatest weapon to this point in keeping its top players.
But if you believe negotiations are still in good faith, then Rahm going to LIV (among others) is an essential bargaining chip in negotiations to force the PGA Tour to make a deal. LIV is showing it can continue bleeding the tour out as long as this continues. That same line of thinking is likely why the PGA Tour announced its negotiations with outside investment — a strike back at LIV that it might not need PIF money.
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(Photo: Hector Vivas / Getty Images)
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