Jordan Spieth confirms PGA Tour players could be set to meet PIF chief

Meeting could take place as early as Monday and Texan says it is ‘probably a good thing’

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy chat during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida. Picture: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

Jordan Spieth has confirmed that a group of PGA Tour players could be set to meet PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan and believes it would “probably be a good thing”.

According to a report by Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch, a meeting could take place as early as Monday at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, where the PGA Tour has its headquarters.

Earlier this week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said negotiations with the Saudi Arabian wealth fund that backs LIV Golf had been “accelerating”.

Spieth, who is one of the player directors on the PGA Tour policy board, was asked about a possible meeting after completing his second round in The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

“We are being encouraged to potentially meet with them at some point, yeah,” said the former Open champion, who missed the cut in this week’s 50th anniversary edition of the US circuit’s flagship event.

Asked if that was going to happen in the near future, he added: “I'm not sure that I can say much more other than we're being encouraged to potentially meet with them, but at the same time we probably feel like our membership should know timing and what could happen and just in general maybe it's just a meet.

“I think there's not a whole lot more I can say about that, but we are being encouraged obviously which I think is probably a good thing that the entire board should if there's going to be any potential for a negotiation.”

Spieth was also quizzed about his role in a heated discussion during Thursday’s opening round over a drop Rory McIlroy took at the eighth hole.

Playing the incident down, the Texan said: “I thought it ended up in a good spot. I get it's me and Rory, but that kind of conversation probably happened a dozen times yesterday in groups. On a golf course like this or last week, you get some situations where it can be really tricky knowing for sure.

"You normally err on the safe side and then you pick where you're virtually certain where it did cross, and I think that's what Rory chose both times (referring to a similar situation arising earlier in the round at the 18th hole).”