Tiger Woods feels that getting all of the best players in the game back together is crucial to showcasing the best possible product in the wake of the PGA Tour and the Strategic Sports Group partnering to form PGA Tour Enterprises.
“Well, at the end of the day, we’re trying to provide the best entertainment,” Woods said, “and in order to do that you have to have the best players play.
“We want to have the history, involve the history and the traditions of the history of our tour and have the pathways, accessibility, have all of the intangibles that have made the PGA Tour what it is right now and what has been, and hopefully what it will continue to be even better. And how do we do that? That’s the whole idea of why we have a group like SSG to provide us with information and help and trying to create the best tour we could possibly have.”
And the 15-time major champion, speaking to the press ahead of the Genesis Invitational where the tournament host is making his competitive return to the PGA Tour, feels that the expertise of SSG made them the ideal partner for the PGA Tour moving forward.
“Well, the consortium that they have at SSG, the partners that they have that have come together to be a part of this group is quite remarkable to be honest with you in the sports industry,” he explained. “They’re unbelievable leaders. At the time that we need great leadership going forward, I think this elicits that. It has amazing — the amazing brains of ideas that can make this tour better and we’re looking forward to that.”
Asked about further negotiations to bring the Saudi Public Investment Fund into the fold, he wouldn’t elaborate any further than to suggest that negotiations were still taking place, but added that having the PIF on board along with SSG was still the preferred route for the Tour. He also suggested that investment from the PIF wouldn’t see an additional influx of capital to PGA Tour Enterprises, suggesting that, as expected, should the PIF come on board they would be buying into the SSG holdings.
“Yeah. Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product,” he said. “Financially, we don’t right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers. Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above. We’re in a position right now, hopefully we can make our product better in the short term and long term.”
Rory McIlroy had recently suggested that there should be no sanctions or penalties for LIV defectors who wish to return to the PGA Tour should agreements be met with the PIF and a concerted effort made to bring all of the top players back together again. This was in contrast to suggestions from Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, among others, but Woods made no suggestions as to his thoughts on the matter, only divulging that they were looking into the various possibilities.
“We’re looking into all the different models for pathways back,” he said. “What that looks like, what the impact is for the players who have stayed and who have not left and how we make our product better going forward, there is no answer to that right now. We’re looking at a very different — varying degrees of ideas and what that looks like in the short term, we don’t know. We don’t even know in the longer term what that looks like. Trust me, there’s daily, weekly emails and talks about this and what this looks like for our tour going forward.”
He did allude to a slight shift in position from the PIF however, likely referring to LIV’s acquisition of Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, all of whom were PGA Tour card holders.
“From what their representatives have discussed with us, yes and no,” he said when asked if it was clear what the end game for the PIF was in the negotiations and moving forward, “because that changes and that evolves from a few months ago to what it is currently now.”
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, it’s an ongoing, fluid process,” he added.
As far as team golf, Woods did confirm that the intent was to have team golf involved in some fashion, but that again, it was too early to state exactly how that might shape up.
“It’s going to be a part of the tour,” he said. “It is part of the Tour, we had TGL. What that looks like as far as official event goes, we don’t know what that looks like yet as of now. As far as off one-night events, what TMRW golf league provides, it is going to be entertaining.
“Whether or not we can transform that or — put that together with official open events, that’s one of the reasons we have SSG to be a part of what that can possibly look like or how does that even look like or how does that even look like with our PIF negotiations as well.”
Leave a comment