NASSAU, Bahamas — Like many in the men’s professional game, Tiger Woods is frustrated by the pace of negotiations between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—talks he is involved with directly.
The 15-time major champion is a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board as well as its “transactions committee” that negotiates with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that backs LIV Golf.
Nearly a year has passed since the agreed deadline for a deal to be completed.
“I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this,” Woods said Tuesday during a news conference at the Hero World Challenge. “Even if we had gotten a deal done by now, it’s still in the DOJ's hands. But we wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now.”
As for the discussions themselves, Woods said: “Things are very fluid, we're still working through it, it's happening daily. From a Policy Board standpoint or from an (PGA Tour) Enterprise standpoint, things are moving and they're constructive. But yes, definitely moving.”
Woods spoke during a news conference at the Albany Resort, where he is the host for the Hero World Challenge but not playing due to a recent back procedure.
In the aftermath of the June 6, 2023, framework agreement that led to the current negotiations but was done in secret, Woods was added to the PGA Tour Policy Board as a sixth player director as the players were to be given veto power over any deal struck with the PIF
But earlier this year, the PGA Tour entered into an agreement with Strategic Sports Group, a private equity firm that invested some $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises with an agreement for more to come.
The PIF’s investment is believed to be similar but involves all manner of obstacles, including how LIV Golf will operate under a new alliance and how the best players from all tours including LIV might come together in more events outside of the major championships.
Currently, LIV players are not allowed to play in PGA Tour events; they must pay fines and serve suspensions to compete in DP World Tour events.
“We’re moving on the fly to try and give everyone the best product we possibly can and give the game peace that it needs,” Woods continued. “This has been a very difficult time in the game of golf. I think that a lot of it has been distractions on the beauty of the game of golf and obviously we’re trying to unify that and give the fans the best experience we know we can give them.”
At the same news conference, Dr. Pawan Munjal, the executive chairman of Hero MotoCorp, announced an extension of the company’s title sponsorship of the Hero World Challenge through 2030.
The India-based company also sponsors the Hero Dubai Classic, the Hero Indian Open for both women and men and is the umbrella sponsor of a women’s tour in India.
Hero dropped Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri in the aftermath of his signing with LIV Golf in 2022, but Munjal—an avid golfer and businessman—attended a LIV Golf event last year (and played in the pro-am with Phil Mickelson) soon after the framework agreement was announced, with discussions about bringing a LIV event to India.
And like many sponsors, he is keen to see a deal get done.
“Very simply put, the game is not benefiting, the players are not benefiting. Maybe some (players) on Tour,” Munjal said on the absence of a deal. “What has to happen is everyone gets back together and the game moves on, the players move on, the sponsors move on. There is confusion for the sponsors as well right now, what to do, where to go, how to look at the future. The future is uncertain, which is not a good thing.
“The majority of the players are not benefiting from all of this confusion. We need to move on. We need to have certainty. We need to have a clear future plan which everyone knows and then moves along that path going forward. Confusion is no good for anybody.”
As for Woods’ confidence in a deal, he said: “I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don't know yet.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tiger Woods Wishes the PGA Tour/LIV Golf Deal Were ‘Further Along’.
