PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tiger Woods talks to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan during The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 15, 2023. | Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
Sunday night, Tiger Woods finally broke his silence in some regard to the LIV Golf-PGA Tour ordeal that has since taken over the sport.
A month ago, the PGA Tour shockingly announced it had entered into a commercial partnership with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The days since have been wild, confusing, and frankly, contradicting.
On Jun. 30, the Twitter account @desertdufferLLG exposed a set of legal documents filed under Larry Klayman vs. the PGA Tour on Jun. 28. This included potential talking points for Tiger Woods at a players-only meeting at the 2022 Travelers Championship.
Of course, the 2022 Travelers took place just two weeks after the inaugural LIV Golf event in London.
The PGA Tour clearly felt threatened by the PIF and LIV Golf, hence the need for Woods—who was battling injuries at the time—to come in and address members of the PGA Tour in Connecticut.
“[PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan] is the right guy for this war,” the talking points for Woods read. “He is a fighter.”
These alleged talking points are included in the 357-page lawsuit filed in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida.
@desertdufferLLG revealed these public documents, which forced Woods to speak up for the first time since the bombshell announcement from the PGA and the PIF.
In response to the talking points memo released this weekend, I have never seen this document until today, and I did not attend the players meeting for which it was prepared at the 2022 Travelers.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) July 2, 2023
“In response to the talking points memo released this weekend, I have never seen this document until today, and I did not attend the players meeting for which it was prepared at the 2022 Travelers,” Woods tweeted on Jul. 2.
The PGA Tour has declined to comment on this matter, per Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated.
Interestingly, there has been a very public, heated spat between Harig and @desertdufferLLG on Twitter. The latter claims that after sourcing the public documents, he would share the information with Harig with the understanding that the SI reporter would not reveal where the documents came from for at least three days.
Harig, in his article, properly credited @desertdufferLLG but also relayed the source being public domain.
Since then, the Tour has been working behind the scenes to seal these documents from public view, thus indicating that they are worried about what the lawsuit has revealed.
Within this document, the tour referred to the DP World Tour as an “underinvested and borderline distressed asset” despite the PGA Tour entering a strategic alliance with the circuit formerly known as the European Tour in 2020.
It also revealed that the PGA Tour wanted to capitalize on the Ryder Cup, which only creates positive returns for the DP World Tour every four years.
That’s right. The DP World Tour loses money every year when the Ryder Cup is not played on European soil.
Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images
DUBAI — Matt Fitzpatrick of England receives the honorary life membership to the DP World Tour from the CEO of The European Tour Group Keith Pelley prior to the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 16, 2022.
Hence why DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley was in talks with PIF as far back as 2021, months before the establishment of LIV Golf.
Pelley knew then that the DP World Tour could not survive against the $720 billion in assets that are reportedly within the PIF, nor could it continue as a de-facto feeder tour to the PGA Tour. The DP World Tour has consistently lost its top European talent to the American circuit for years.
Yet, the PGA Tour continued to fight off the Saudi-backed tour, and Monahan supposedly called in the big guns—Tiger Woods—to help reassure that the threat was not real.
But in 2023, the tour has embraced the Saudi Arabians, knowing that their current model of higher purses for select marquee events is not sustainable, as the documents revealed.
The vast financial assets within PIF’s reserves exponentially outweigh those of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tours.
Photo by Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via Getty Images
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Phil Mickelson of Hy Flyers GC putts during day two of the LIV Golf Invitational – Jeddah at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on October 15, 2022.
The two could not compete with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, hence their need to cooperate.
Perhaps they should have done so sooner rather than later instead of creating a great schism in professional golf, never seen before.
Hopefully, the framework agreement brought about on Jun. 6 does lead to a merged, global tour where the best players are playing in front of fans in the United States, Europe, and every corner of the globe.
The fear, however, is that the schism continues to wear on, and golf continues down a path similar to racing—where NASCAR and Formula One are two separate entities, with the best racers in the world not competing against one another.
For now, an infinite amount of details need to be figured out.
Some reports have indicated that Monahan and the PGA Tour will have complete control of golf operations going forward. But then Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, told LIV Golfers that ‘his f—ing baby’ is not going anywhere.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
