(NewsNation) — One year after PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced what was to have been a historic unification of professional golf, players remain split by a bitter divide that, at least for now, shows no signs of getting any smaller.

Although no timeline was set on June 6, 2023, for a proposed partnership between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf — the brainchild of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) — a deal that would have put the two groups on even footing appeared to be in the works.

However, as negotiations continue 12 months since the commissioner’s announcement, Monahan maintains that while he believes getting a deal done remains in the best interest of both tours, “it’s going to take time.”

On Thursday, a PGA Tour spokesman told NewsNation that nothing is imminent more than two months after Monahan said negotiations had been accelerating and that there were still several key areas that needed to be worked through.

The New York Times reported that Monahan, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and others are scheduled to meet Friday to continue conversations about a possible deal that would infuse billions of dollars in Saudi money into the PGA Tour’s bottom line.

A spokesperson for LIV Golf did not immediately return an email seeking comment from NewsNation.

For now, the PGA Tour and LIV continue to operate separately. Players who left for LIV remain banned from playing in PGA Tour-sanctioned events. Those players can, however, participate in the majors — the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship (hosted by the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour) and the Open Championship — because those tournaments are run by other organizations and due to exemptions players had received due to past success.

Since LIV Golf was launched in 2022, former PGA players like 2024 Masters champion Jon Rahm, 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, who has captured multiple majors, have signed lucrative deals with LIV.

The PGA, meanwhile, has seen its television ratings dwindle as even bigger-name players consider leaving for signing bonuses valued at around $150 million.

A Dec. 31 deadline was set, which came and went amid pledges that negotiations would continue. The Washington Post reported that Monahan and Al-Rumayyan have continued in recent weeks as terms that could be included in a final deal have been volleyed back and forth.

Tiger Woods was named to the PGA Tour Enterprises board earlier this year and is scheduled to participate in Friday’s meeting along with golfer Rory McIlroy and others. He told reporters recently that having a seat at the table allowed him a new perspective into what a combined PGA Tour-LIV world would resemble.

“Collectively as a whole, we want to see whatever’s best for all the players, the fans, and the state of golf,” Woods told reporters ahead of the PGA Championship last month. “How we get there, that’s to be determined.”

What’s on the negotiating table?

Despite being willing to pump money into the PGA Tour, PIF officials are said to be looking for a meaningful return on their investment, The Washington Post report indicated.

Although PGA Tour players who have spoken on the status of negotiations have indicated that meaningful progress is being made, no details about what the forward movement looks like have been released.

While a deal between the two sides would allow players currently banned from participating in PGA Tour events to return, how they would be integrated back into the tour remains unknown at this point.

In addition to the Saudi money that could come from a PGA Tour-LIV pact, Strategic Sports Group, a private group of investors that provided $1.5 billion in funding earlier this year when a partnership called PGA Tour Enterprises was formed, has said their pool of cash could grow once a deal is completed.

PGA officials have said that the new money would not go toward tournament purses or the PGA Tour’s current operating expenses, the Post reported. The PGA Tour spokesperson said Thursday that a deal between the tour and LIV would involve PIF investing in the tour, similar to SSG, but that a pact would not merge the two tours.

Instead, the PGA Tour commissioner told reporters that both sides “have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential.”

As negotiations continue, LIV Golf eyes further expansion, which involves opening offices in New York and London, the Post reported. With no deal approaching between the two sides, multiple media reports have indicated that LIV will continue to try to poach PGA Tour players with hopes of expanding its global reach and fan base.

However, the continued split between the two tours continues to be a topic of conversation among players, fans and others inside the game. Ahead of the PGA Championship in May, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh told reporters that the business model with the game divided in two was not sustainable.

“I don’t think the game is big enough for two tours like that, and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy,” Waugh told reporters.