PGA Tour members held crunch talks about the future of the tour earlier this week amid golf's ongoing civil war with the highly controversial LIV Golf Series.
Tiger Woods was at the centre of the meeting after reaffirming his loyalty to the PGA Tour and the Fire Pit Collective reports that 'the formation of a tour-within-the-Tour' was discussed. The proposal would see the tour hold 18 no-cut tournaments where the sport's top 60 golfers play for $20 million (£17 million) purses.
The report notes the idea 'sounds very much like what LIV has already created, with its 48-man, no-cut fields vying for $25 million purses'. It also claims the idea of the tour renouncing its non-profit status was discussed at the meeting, which would allow it to accept private investment in a bid to compete with the financial clout of the Saudi-backed LIV.
Rory McIlroy was present at the meeting and he praised Woods for his role in the talks, describing him as "the hero that we've all looked up to". McIlroy said: "It's impactful, and I think it shows how much he cares about the Tour.
"I think it shows how much he cares about the players that are coming through and are going to be the next generation. Like it or not, they can't really sell Tiger Woods anymore.
"The Tour had an easy job for 20 years. They don’t have Tiger — yes, they've got a bunch of us and we're all great players, but we're not Tiger Woods.
"He is the hero that we've all looked up to. His voice carries further than anyone else's in the game of golf. His role is navigating us to a place where we all think we should be.
"I think he's carried the Tour for a long, long time. I think we as players that were his contemporaries that were a little older than me but even the guys coming behind, we've all benefitted from that.
"But as I said, how can we keep benefiting from that going forward. We're moving into a different era, and we just have to think about things a little differently."
