Steve Cohen Says He Expects PGA and LIV Golfers to Be Reunited

(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Steve Cohen, whose family office Cohen Private Ventures is part of the investor group that injected capital into PGA Tour Enterprises early this year, said he believes the group can find a way to reunite with top golfers who have defected for LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund. 

“It’s a lot of moving parts and I think we’ll get there,” Cohen said Monday at a media event in New York when asked to provide a status update regarding the PGA Tour.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund started LIV as a rival to the PGA Tour, luring a number of big-name players and sparking a feud before the sides agreed to a deal, which didn’t come to fruition. PIF has continued to discuss a potential transaction for a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises, Bloomberg News has reported.

“The goal is to reunite all the players — it’s fragmented right now,” Cohen said in response to the question posed by Eli Manning, co-investor with Cohen in New York Golf Club, a team competing in TGL, an indoor-golf competition launching in January that was founded by TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA Tour. “Getting to play in one tournament, one venue, whatever it is, is exciting.”

Relations between the PGA and LIV are perceived to be thawing, with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF’s Yasir Al-Rymayyan playing a round of golf together last month. In December, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler and LIV’s Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are set to face off in an exhibition in Las Vegas. Other LIV golfers include Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith.

Along with Cohen and Manning, Derek Jeter, Jimmy Fallon and CC Sabathia are co-owners in New York Golf Club. Professional golfers Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young are on the New York team, which will play in the season opener in January against the Bay Golf Club, which is backed by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund and basketball star Stephen Curry.

Cohen, who also owns the New York Mets, has a net worth of $14.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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