Tiger Woods touched on the current negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF. His remarks say it all.
At last year’s Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods said he hoped a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV Golf’s backer, would be completed by December 31, 2023. The tour and the PIF set that date as the original deadline, exciting the golf world that the two sides would reach an agreement by then.
But that deal remains a concept, not a reality, one year later.
And based on Woods’ comments on Tuesday in the Bahamas, the writing is on the wall: this agreement will not become an actuality for quite some time.
“I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this,” Woods said ahead of the 2024 Hero World Challenge.
“Even if it did, we’re still at the regulations of the [Department of Justice (DOJ)] saying it’s giving us hominus dominus that it will go through. Even if we had gotten a deal done by now, it’s still in the DOJ’s hands, but we wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now.”
The DOJ is concerned that this agreement violates anti-trust laws.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) has held three separate hearings about this deal over the past 18 months. The PSI is worried about the Saudi Arabian Kingdom’s goals and objectives related to sportswashing. It also has concerns over its extensive history of human rights abuses.
That does not involve any logistics related to the golf itself, either. Will players be allowed to crisscross between tours? What happens to the millions of dollars many former PGA Tour stars took to join LIV Golf? What about the animosity that existed between multiple players? How about the schedule?
So many variables remain in the air, which explains why this has taken so long to sort. But Woods, who now sits on the PGA Tour Policy Board and has participated in meetings with the PIF, still has some confidence about a deal going forward.
“I think something will get done,” Woods said.
“In what form or shape, I don’t know yet.”
The talk of coming together has fatigued fans and pundits for 18 months now, as no solution has yet to appear on the horizon. Instead, television ratings have plummeted across the board, perhaps due to the lack of stars playing on the PGA Tour. LIV Golf has also failed to attract a vast audience, with obscure programming outperforming Jon Rahm going to battle against Brooks Koepka. Maybe that’s because the continued discussion of money, money, and more money has turned away the common fan.
The PGA Tour is not innocent in this regard, either. Scottie Scheffler earned more than $62 million in 2024, as the tour had no choice but to exponentially increase purse sizes over the past few years to compete with LIV. It did so to keep LIV from poaching its stars. Yet, it’s a battle the tour cannot win. LIV’s coffers are seemingly limitless, thanks to the PIF having more than $700 billion in assets. A $20 million purse for a LIV event is lunch money for the PIF, whereas the PGA Tour cannot say the same. The tour has lost numerous sponsors over the past 12 months, namely, Wells Fargo, after tour brass asked for a greater financial commitment for its Signature Events.
The pro game is struggling — and it shouldn’t be. The amateur game has never been stronger globally, as the pandemic created a boom in popularity across the world. There have never been more golfers playing than right now. And yet, the upper echelons of the sport cannot get out of their own way.
Woods recognizes that, too.
“We all want to get past this and to do what’s best for the tour,” Woods said.
“In trying to do that, there’s going to be — some eggs are going to be knocked over, and it’s going to be a little bit difficult at times, but in the end, we’re going to get a product that’s better for all the fans and all the players that are involved and get some peace that the game desperately needs.”
The game needs peace at the top of the sport, but when will it come? 2025 could be the year that the two sides settle all of the nuances involved. After all, Steve Cohen, the New York Mets Owner who is also a part of the Strategic Sports Group (SSG), expressed his confidence in a deal crossing the finish line just last week. But then again, how long will the DOJ take to assess and scrutinize? Some figure that would take an additional year, which quickly puts us into 2026 at the earliest.
Although Woods added that things “are fluid” and that “we’re still working through it,” we are still far from reaching a concrete deal. Reading between the lines, what appeared to us on Tuesday is that the sport will remain divided for the foreseeable future.
Even if all involved miraculously struck a deal tomorrow, the DOJ would still need time to assess it. The PSI would too. So buckle up, golf fans. The rollercoaster ride that is golf’s great schism is nowhere near an end.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
