Tiger Woods has added his considerable voice to those rocking the golfing world by declaring a breakaway Premier Golf League to be a ‘natural progression’ for the game.
The proposed set-up of a Premier Golf League has already sent the golfing establishment into a tailspin with both the head of the PGA Tour and European Tour despatching emails to their individual members supposedly outlining the restrictions that will be put in place should the world’s best choose to leave their respective tours.
Woods was asked ahead of hosting this week’s Genesis Open whether he has been approached by Premier Golf League representatives, believed to be Saudi Arabian golf officials, as was evident last December when his manager was seen chatting with the head of Saudi golf at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas
“Have I been personally approached? Yes, and my team has been aware of them and we have been trying to delve into it and trying to figure it all out like everyone else,” said Woods.
“We have been down this road before with the World Golf Championships and other events that have been started or other tours wanting to evolve and start.
“There is a lot of information that we are still looking at [that will determine] whether it will become a reality or not, so like everyone else we are looking into it.”
The Premier Golf League is believed to be proposing a mega-millions 18-event series, featuring at least 10 events in the US and commencing possibly in 2022 that will feature the world’s top-48 ranked golfers.
The major question facing the likes of Woods, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and any of those who do choose to abandon the PGA Tour and sign for the Premier Golf League, is what will be their stature when it comes to teeing-up in the four Majors, the three WGCs, and what will transpire should any player drop outside the world’s top-48.
Woods was then asked if he felt that ‘there was something not right’ given such talk around establishing a breakaway tour even existed.
“When you look at all events, you are trying to get the top players to play more collectively and it is one reason why we instituted the World Golf Championships because we were only getting together five times a year at the four majors and the Players,” said Woods.
“We wanted to showcase the top players on more than just those occasions so that’s why we came up with the World Golf Championships.
“So, this is a natural evolution as things like this are going to happen whether it’s now or in the future.”
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