Tiger Woods Travels to Delaware for Meeting With PGA Tour Players About LIV Golf
WILMINGTON, Del. – Tiger Woods arrived in the area Tuesday afternoon for a meeting with several top players competing in the BMW Championship, with discussions centered around the direction of the PGA Tour in the wake of the controversy surrounding the LIV Golf League.
Woods arrived on a private jet with Rickie Fowler, who was not eligible for the tournament but apparently part of the discussions that were to take place sometime Tuesday evening. The meeting is not a formal gathering nor is part of any PGA Tour agenda.
The PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council was scheduled to meet at Wilmington Country Club on Wednesday and commissioner Jay Monahan is also in to conduct Q&A sessions with players, as he did last week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The Tour has seen a number of players jump to LIV Golf, including major champions Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia, for reported multi-million-dollar signing bonuses.
LIV has played three events and offered $25 million purses at each with five more tournaments scheduled for the rest of the year. Monahan has indefinitely suspended any player who competes in a LIV event, although it was disclosed in a lawsuit filed by 11 LIV players that Mickelson was originally suspended for two months, with two subsequent extensions taking it into 2024. The six-time major champion has not played in a PGA Tour event since January.
Woods spoke pointedly about LIV Golf to the media last month prior to playing in the British Open.
"What is the incentive to practice and earn it in the dirt?’’ he said.
When asked about LIV CEO Greg Norman, Woods said, "Greg has done some things that I don’t think are in the best interest of our game.
“I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the Tour has given us, the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game.
“I know Greg tried to do this back in the early '90s. It didn't work then, and he's trying to make it work now. I still don't see how that's in the best interests of the game. What the European Tour and what the PGA Tour stands for and what they've done, and also all the professional—all the governing bodies of the game of golf and all the major championships, how they run it. I think they see it differently than what Greg sees it.’’
On the players who made the decision to leave, Woods said: “I disagree with it. I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.
“Some players have never got a chance to even experience it. They've gone right from the amateur ranks right into that organization and never really got a chance to play out here and what it feels like to play a Tour schedule or to play in some big events.
“And who knows what's going to happen in the near future with world-ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships. The governing body is going to have to figure that out.’’
LIV Golf has made an application with the Official World Golf Ranking for its tournaments to receive points, but the review process can be lengthy, with the organization typically wanting a tour to operate for at least a year.