PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — In the aftermath of the PGA Tour’s announcement Wednesday that it will be getting a massive investment from a private equity group to form a new for-profit company, the chairman of LIV Golf who also is the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund took a diplomatic approach in a message to LIV players on Thursday.

But Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who heads the Public Investment Fund, also made it clear that LIV Golf will “maintain incredible momentum.”

In a letter obtained by Sports Illustrated, Al-Rumayyan told players at the Mayakoba Resort on the eve of the LIV Golf League’s 2024 season opener that Strategic Sports Group’s investment of close to $3 billion in a new company called PGA Tour Enterprises “is consistent with PIF’s longstanding passion to grow the game. PIF continues to discuss and evaluate the possibility of investment that benefits the greater game of golf.”

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is a $700 billion fund that backs LIV Golf.

Last June, Al-Rumayyan along with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a “framework agreement” that included the DP World Tour and would see the entities align for the greater good of the game.

Along with that announcement was the news that all litigation between the parties would be dropped.

But some eight months later, a formal deal has yet to be struck, although both sides say they are still working toward an agreement.

Along the way, LIV Golf signed PGA Tour star and Masters champion Jon Rahm, along with Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, and expanded to 13 teams.

Meanwhile, the Tour began courting private equity to invest in the new company and announced in December that it was negotiating exclusively with SSG, a consortium of sports owners and the Fenway Sports Group that will see investment enrich PGA Tour players via an undetermined equity stake. Unclear is the competitive vehicle that PGA Tour Enterprises will undertake.

In the PGA Tour’s announcement Wednesday, it said that “the transaction announced today allows for a co-investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the future, subject to all regulatory approval.”

Although the idea of an outside company in addition to the PIF has been discussed for months, the formation of the agreement has led to discussions about whether or not the Tour will proceed without the PIF. That would leave LIV Golf players, in theory, on the outside and unable to compete in whatever format is devised as part of PGA Tour Enterprises—which will operate separately from the PGA Tour.

Jordan Spieth, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, suggested the PIF investment in the Tour might not be necessary. A former board member, Rory McIlroy, has said he believes it is necessary to bring the game together and form a unique avenue of competition.

“At this point if the PIF were interested in coming in on terms that our members like and/or the economic terms are at or not beyond SSG’s and they feel it would be a good idea, I think that’s where the discussions will start,” Spieth said. “I understand it could take some time to even come to those kind of terms, and then beyond that the Department of Justice and a regulatory review would be intact. It would be a timely situation, but I’m not sure of the level necessarily of the importance because it will be up to our members to figure that out.”

Al-Rumayyan, who has not spoken publicly since the announcement with Monahan last June, did not get that specific in his letter that was delivered to players on Thursday afternoon.

“PIF remains committed to investing in and support LIV and the team golf format that has brought new energy and so many new fans to the game around the world,” his letter said. “The game of golf is only beginning to fulfill its potential. This is the vision we had when LIV was created, and today that is more alive than ever. LIV has transformed the sport and we will continue to grow the game globally, expand its fanbase, elevate its platform and maintain incredible momentum.”