the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday - Final Round
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As the PGA Tour continues to develop its plan for how to move forward following the announced deal between it and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, one key item that needs to be addressed is how LIV Golf players, who left the Tour for millions in riches, will receive a pathway to return. Not only that but how the Tour can ensure some of its brightest stars who stayed put are compensated for their loyalty.

Here's how world No. 3 Rory McIlroy contextualized it last week at the RBC Canadian Open: "The simple answer is, yes, [players who stayed should be made whole financially]. The complex answer is, 'How does that happen?' Right? And that's all a gray area and up in the air at the minute. ... It's hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I've put myself out there and this is what happens."

Added Matthew Fitzpatrick: "Obviously, for the guys that did turn down significant amounts of money, then that's probably a tough one to swallow and I feel for them."

A potential solution to making the Rory McIlroys, Jordan Spieths and Justin Thomases (and maybe even Matthew Fitzpatricks) of the world whole again was proposed over the weekend by one of the architects of the deal on the PGA Tour side, Jimmy Dunne.

Dunne led the charge, alongside Ed Herlihy, on behalf of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan as an agreement was formed with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. That deal still has a lot of holes and perhaps even more outstanding questions.

Dunne's plan for compensating stars who showed loyalty to the Tour is potentially giving them a slice of the soon-to-be-formed for-profit entity that will reign over the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf.

"The new [company] would grow, and the [current PGA Tour] players would get a piece of equity that would enhance and increase in value as time went on," Dunne told ESPN. "There would have to be some kind of formulaic decision on how to do that. It would be a process to determine what would be a fair mechanism that would be really beneficial to our players."

Dunne suggested not allowing those who defected to LIV Golf an opportunity to join this equity sharing agreement could be part of the methodology for welcoming them back into the fold and evening things out across the board between the sides.

Of course, all of this could change. Even though there is an agreement in place between the Tour and PIF, it's short on details and long on hope. The U.S. Senate launched an investigation into the proceedings between the PGA Tour and the PIF that will further complicate the final closure of any deal in the near future. 

In short: All of this is messy, and while equity has been thrown around as a possible way to reward the loyal players who are frustrated with how the last week has gone, it's a long way from a sure thing. The road to get there remains fraught with plenty of landmines.