Tiger Woods' LIV Golf merger role revealed after Rory McIlroy 'fallout'
Tiger Woods will be the only player involved in peace talk negotiations between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). The Tour have been in discussions with PIF since announcing a shock framework agreement last June.
As things stands though, the two sides are yet to finalise a deal after missing their December 31 deadline at the end of 2023. On Wednesday, it was revealed that the PGA Tour have put out five members to represent them at the table with 15-time major champion Woods the only player.
Elsewhere the American-based circuit’s commissioner Jay Monahan will also take a negotiation spot, along with policy board chairman Joe Gorder, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) principal owner John Henry and former player-turned-economist Joe Ogilvie.
Woods is a member of the Tour’s policy board as a player director, a role taken up by his close friend and business partner Rory McIlroy until last November. McIlroy opted to resign from the board last winter, having found himself embroiled in the off-course politics between the Tour and LIV.
Half-a-year on, McIlroy has revealed his attentions to make a return in recent weeks, however it was revealed at this week’s Wells Fargo Championship that his peers – including Woods – opted to reject plans to reappoint the four-time major winner. According to Golf Digest, the relationship between Woods and McIlroy has ‘soured’ amid their differing views on the current state of professional golf.
McIlroy himself addressed his rejection from his fellow players, with Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth and Patrick all also reportedly against the idea of the Northern Irishman returning as a player director. “There’s been a lot of conversations,” the Northern Irishman said this week.
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Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy
“Sort of reminded me partly why I didn’t [serve on the board]! I think it got pretty complicated and pretty messy and I think with the way it happened, I think it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. There was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.
“I think the best course of action is if there are some people on there that aren’t comfortable with me coming back on. It was reported by the Guardian in April that Simpson was set to stand aside from his post to allow McIlroy to return, but the American has since opted to remain.
“I think he [Webb] has gotten to a place where he’s comfortable with doing that and I just sort of keep doing what I’m doing,” McIlroy added. “I put my hand up to help and it was — I wouldn’t say it was rejected, it was a complicated process to get through to put me back on there. So that’s all fine, no hard feelings and we’ll all move on.”