Tiger Woods has arrived in Delaware for crunch talks with PGA players as the war with LIV Golf continues.
The 15-time Major winner is not playing in the second FedEx Cup event at Wilmington in Delaware, but Woods and Rickie Fowler still went to the meeting of top players to discuss the Saudi breakaway league - and how to fight it. The 15-time major champion is said to have played a key role in organising the showdown talks, according to the Fire Pit Collective.
LIV's arrival earlier in the year sent shockwaves through the world of golf, and the Saudi Arabia-backed breakout is continuing to offer extortionate money to prize players away from the PGA Tour.
Cameron Smith is expected to become the next big name to walk away from the PGA, with reports suggesting the Open champion has inked a deal worth £100million. Woods himself turned down an offer worth £661m, LIV CEO Greg Norman recently revealed.
The American, who is still on the road to recovery after his February 2021 car crash, is believed to be eager to persuade younger players to stay with the PGA despite the lucrative money on offer.
LIV Golf recently applied for Official Golf World Ranking recognition, which would allow players to earn world ranking points from its events. Woods recently spoke about the prospect of LIV golfers missing out on the majors, explaining the impact it would have on their careers.
"Who knows what's going to happen in the near future with world-ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships," Woods said. "The governing body is going to have to figure that out.
"Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility. We don't know that for sure yet. It's up to all the major championship bodies to make that determination.
"But that is a possibility, that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here, walk down the fairways at Augusta National. That, to me, I just don't understand it."
Woods isn't the only big-name golfer to voice his disapproval of LIV recently, with US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick dismissing the notion that any defectors will be missed in Delaware this week.
"It's still an incredibly fantastic field," he said. "The field this week is 70 of the best players in the world. I think it is only three of them that aren't here. It's not a massive loss in my opinion.”
Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Bubba Watson are all absent after signing with LIV. Smith withdrew from the tournament citing hip discomfort.
