Patrick Cantlay is not going to play on the PGA Tour on the Valspar Championship this week after attending a merger assembly with LIV Golf officers in The Bahamas on Monday. The coverage board participant director was at Albany for the newest spherical of talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund over the way forward for golf.

Attention now returns to golf and the ultimate cease of the Florida Swing, which Cantlay has notably withdrawn from. Of the six participant administrators, Scott, Simpson and Woods have been by no means all the way down to play at Copperhead.

But the world quantity three was up till Sunday, the day earlier than the assembly, when he withdrew, in keeping with the PGA Tour. Braden Shattuck and Tom Kim additionally pulled out over the weekend.

Unlike Cantlay, Malnati and Spieth will play in Palm Harbor regardless of their participant director commitments. The eight-time PGA Tour winner has not spoken since Monday's assembly however did preview it at The Players.

“I’ve gotta hear out what they have to say, and I will always do my best to represent the entire membership whenever I am in a meeting in that capacity,” Cantlay defined earlier than attending. “I think more information is always better.”

But he was not anticipating agreeing any deal at this stage. “I'm not even sure we're at that point yet,” he stated. “So, I don't want to get out ahead of myself. And say something that may go different.”

“If (a deal) weren't to happen, we would go on in a similar paradigm to how we're going on right now,” Cantlay defined concerning the subsequent steps. “I think there are pros and cons.”

Commissioner Jay Monahan has since shed some mild on the talks. "The conversation throughout was constructive and represents an important part of our due diligence process in selecting potential investors for PGA Tour Enterprises," he wrote in a letter to members.

"This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group. During the session, Yasir had a chance to introduce himself to our player directors and talk through his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf.

"As we proceed these discussions with the PIF, we'll preserve you up to date as a lot as attainable, however please perceive that we have to preserve our place of not conducting negotiations in public."