Tiger Woods hasn't played in a competitive tournament since the The Open, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been busy. Serving on the PGA Tour Policy Board and PGA Tour Enterprises Board of Directors, the 48-year-old has taken a front-row seat when it comes to shaping of the future of the men's professional game.Â
Speaking ahead of his annual event in the Bahamas, the 2024 Hero World Challenge, Woods outlined potential speed bumps in a deal between the PGA Tour Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the financial backers of LIV Golf. He lamented that discussions of this nature take time, and though he wishes for a unified game, not even Tiger knows what that will look like down the road.
"All of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this," Woods said. "Even if it did, we're still at the regulations of the [Department of Justice] ... that it will go through. 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. But things are very fluid, we're still working through it, it's happening daily. From a policy-board standpoint -- or from an enterprise standpoint -- things are moving and they're constructive. But yes, definitely moving."
The PGA Tour and the PIF first announced their framework agreement 18 months ago in June 2023. Discussions between the parties to combine commercial operations under the PGA Tour Enterprises umbrella have slogged as the initial year-end deadline passed and hearings in front of U.S. Senate subcommittees have taken place.
Reports of the PIF seeking a separate investment into the DP World Tour emerged this week leaving some to wonder such an agreement would mean for the deal between the PGA Tour and sovereign wealth fund.
PGA Tour Enterprises has already received a $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group -- a consortium of U.S. investors and sports team owners -- with another $1.5 billion available from the group for future use. It is believed the PIF's investment into PGA Tour Enterprises would come in at a similar figure, though the two parties have yet to put pen to paper.
"This is an active negotiation and things are happening daily, weekly, and it's evolving," Woods said. "We all want to get past this and to do what's best for the Tour. And in trying to do that, there's going to be -- some eggs are going to be knocked over, and it's going to be a little bit difficult at times. But in the end, we're going to get a product that's better for all the fans and all the players that are involved and get some peace that the game desperately needs."
What a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf's investors means for the future of the game remains a mystery, even for those sitting at the negotiation table. Pathways back to the PGA Tour have yet to be established for those players who made the move to LIV Golf, and an avenue for PGA Tour players to play in LIV Golf events -- should they wish to do so in the future -- has rarely been discussed. Questions continue to pile up, and while the two parties are seemingly getting closer to a deal, answers continue to be scarce.
"I think something will get done," Woods said. "In what form or shape, I don't know yet."
