Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth Address Rumors of Jon Rahm and Other PGA Tour Players Defecting to LIV Golf
NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods gave a cryptic answer Friday when asked about the possibility of more players signing with LIV Golf.
With a Dec. 31 deadline looming for an agreement among the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (which backs LIV Golf), there has been considerable social media speculation that a few name players are ready to make the leap.
Nothing has been confirmed, and LIV Golf officials continue to say that they are unaware of any imminent signings.
Yet the rumors persist, and Woods was asked about them following his round Friday at the Hero World Challenge.
“Hypothetically, would it surprise me, yes, but there’s so many different things that have happened in the last, as you said, 48 hours, but also in the last few weeks,” said Woods, who is now a player director on the PGA Tour policy board. “Things have changed and will continue to change.
“Our deadline’s coming up here soon, so there’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of different things are happening very quickly, because today’s the first day in December. We don’t have a whole lot of time.”
Social media has recently been ablaze with unconfirmed rumors surrounding Jon Rahm.
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Jordan Spieth, who recently replaced Rory McIlroy on the policy board, was asked specifically about Jon Rahm, speculation that he might go to LIV Golf and how it would impact the framework agreement.
“I’m not sure specifically how it would impact those negotiations, but all in all, Jon Rahm is one of the biggest assets that we have on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said. “So it would really be not very good for us in general, because we want to play against the best players in the world, and that’s what Jon is.
“I know there’s been some guys that have talked to him. I know he’s maybe weighing some decisions, maybe not. I really don’t know, so I don’t want to insult him and say he’s weighing decisions if he already knows he’s not or he is. That’s somewhat out of my control, in a way. Obviously, I could speak probably on behalf of 200-plus PGA Tour players in saying that we really hope that he’s continuing with us.”
Woods was also asked whether any type of signing would surprise him.
“Nothing has really surprised me other than the fact that there’s so many different things that have happened so fast,” he said. “That’s one of the things that all of us as player directors we’ve been working on, just that everything is now at a time crunch. It’s 24 hours a day just trying to figure it out.”
It’s unclear whether Woods was suggesting that something with the negotiations is amiss to the point that some players might be prompted to sign with LIV Golf.
In the aftermath of the June 6 announcement of the “framework agreement” among the parties, several PGA Tour players expressed disappointment with PGA Tour leadership, including commissioner Jay Monahan, for secretly negotiating the deal and not telling the players.
Since that time, several changes have been made, with Woods added to the board and structural moves that would see the players have a final say in any substantive alterations. Woods expressed his own displeasure with the situation and suggested it would “never happen again.”
When asked about negotiations since he joined the board, Woods said Tuesday:
“I’m pleased at the process and how it’s evolved. Also frustrated in some of the slowness and the governance change that we want to have happen. And December 31st is coming up very quickly, so there’s the timetable there that we would like to implement some of these changes that have not taken place.”
He added: “All the parties are talking, and we’re aggressively working on trying to get a deal done. We’re all trying to make sure that the process is better, too, as well. So the implementation of governance is one of the main topics as [far as] getting the deal done, but making sure it’s done the right way.”