ORLANDO, Fla. – There’s no shortage of intrigue atop professional golf with the Dec. 31 deadline looming for the PGA Tour to strike a definitive deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as well as ongoing negotiations with other private equity and a governance review.
A recent report about potential palace intrigue on the circuit’s policy board, however, missed the mark, according to Justin Thomas.
A story on SI.com last week suggested that Patrick Cantlay, one of six player directors on the policy board, had seized control of the board and was driving a potential deal with PIF and Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of investors led by Fenway Sports Group which has reached advanced stages of negotiations with the Tour.
Fellow player director Jordan Spieth dismissed that notion last week in an interview with The Associated Press and on Friday at the PNC Championship, Thomas also pushed back on the Cantlay rumor.
“The things that Patrick Cantlay had said about them, I understand Patrick is who he is, but he’s beyond busted his ass to get the Tour in the best place possible,” Thomas said. “I know all of them have done that.”
Thomas was also asked how much players have been kept in the loop since the Tour signed its framework agreement with the PIF on June 6 and he described a collaborative process with a healthy amount of transparency.
“I know that I can call any of those guys and they will tell me. They don’t reach out to people and say, ‘Hey, do you want to know what’s going on?’ To be quite frank, they are too busy to do something like that,” Thomas said.
Thomas explained that most players are more focused on their own games than they are Tour politics or policy board rumors.
“I have bigger and better things to worry about, to be selfish and honest. I shouldn’t say more important because the future of the PGA Tour is more important, but selfishly for me, my golf is,” he said. “I know that those guys are willing to pick up the phone and talk to anybody if they want. They just have to call them, and I just haven’t really had the desire to do that much. I’ve got faith and trust in them.”
