Tiger Woods Is Taking a Lead Role in Discussions to Improve PGA Tour: 'His Voice Carries Further'
WILMINGTON, Del. – Saying there is “a bit of a code,’’ players who attended a meeting on Tuesday night that included Tiger Woods and several who are competing in the BMW Championship were not eager to disclose details of what was discussed.
But they acknowledged the idea of unity going forward and coming up with specific ideas to present that would improve the PGA Tour.
Woods, who flew with Rickie Fowler from his home in South Florida to attend the meeting in person, presided over a session that included an undisclosed number of players, but included Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and several others.
“It was a really nice meeting,’’ Schauffele said Wednesday at Wilmington Country Club. “It was great. It was exciting. It was new. It was fresh. Coming up with other adjectives here, I am very hopeful with sort of what’s to come, I should say.’’
He and the others were not willing to say much, but it’s clear some of the top players believe action needs to be taken to thwart the advances made by LIV Golf, including improving aspects of the PGA Tour that might prevent such defections from occurring in the future.
Woods, who made it clear at the British Open last month that he believed the venture fronted by Hall of Famer Greg Norman is wrong and that players who left had “turned their backs’’ on the entity that allowed them to be in such a position, made an impression simply by appearing.
“It’s impactful, and I think it shows how much he cares about the Tour,’’ McIlroy said. “I think it shows how much he cares about the players that are coming through and are going to be the next generation. Like it or not, they can’t really sell Tiger Woods anymore. The Tour had an easy job for 20 years. They don’t have Tiger. Yes, they’ve got a bunch of us and we’re all great players, but we’re not Tiger Woods.
“We’re moving into a different era, and we just have to think about things a little differently.’’
Asked what role Woods plays, McIlroy said: “He is the hero that we’ve all looked up to. His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf. His role is navigating us to place where we all think we should be.’’
Getting there and how soon are the questions that were not answered.
The meeting lasted more than three hours and there is a sense that specific ideas were tossed around and perhaps even agreed upon, with hopes of formalizing and presenting them to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and other Tour leadership.
McIlroy didn’t get specific but said “we need to get the top guys together more often than we do.’’
Monahan announced plans in June to elevate the purses of several events, including the Sentry Tournament of Champions ($15 million), the Genesis Invitational ($20 million), Arnold Palmer Invitational ($20 million), Players Championship ($25 million), WGC-Match Play ($20 million), Memorial ($20 million) as well as the first two playoff events, FedEx St. Jude and BMW (each $20 million).
All of those tournaments have limited fields and are meant to reward the elite.
“Everyone in that room wants the same thing going forward,’’ said Zalatoris, 26, who won his first PGA Tour event on Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. “We just want the best thing for the Tour. This isn’t just about us. No era of players just own the Tour or this game. We want to leave it better than we found it.
“We’ve got an unbelievable Tour. I’m incredibly lucky. Very blessed and fortunate to be here. But with everything going on, we can’t be satisfied where we’re at. It’s very cool to see so many people care so deeply about the future, but obviously with what’s going on right now, the present.’’
What’s happening now is extreme disruption. LIV Golf and its impact is seemingly a story every week. The reigning British Open winner, Cam Smith, is reportedly heading to LIV at the conclusion of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The FedEx champ from just two years ago, Dustin Johnson, has already left as has Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship in 2021 and became the oldest major winner. Other past major champions such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed have also joined LIV.
The PGA Tour’s reaction has been to suspend indefinitely those who take part in LIV events. Last week, the Tour prevailed against three LIV players—Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones—who sought to be allowed to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs because they had otherwise met membership requirements and were eligible.
Schauffele said that the players agreed not to speak in too much detail about what occurred at the meeting and McIlroy said “I don’t think it’s for a public forum right now’’ and that it’s “between the players and the executives at the Tour to sort of manage a way forward.’’
One thing that seems clear: Woods will continue to be involved.
“I think if someone like him is passionate about it, no offense to all of us, but that's really all that matters,’’ Thomas said. “If he's not behind something, then one, it's probably not a good idea in terms of the betterment of the game, but two, it's just not going to work. He needs to be behind something.
“I think he's been a great kind of leading role in a lot of ways in the game for a lot of us.’’