Tag: Public Investment Fund

Tiger Woods thought PGA Tour-PIF negotiations ‘would have happened quicker than this’

“But things are very fluid, we’re still working through it, it’s happening daily.”

Golf’s Civil War doesn’t seem any closer to a conclusion than when it started.

It has been a year and a half since the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced a framework agreement for the pair to work on creating a for-profit entity to reunite men’s professional golf.

That was June 6, 2023. As of December 2024, no agreement has been made, and even Woods didn’t anticipate negotiations to continue into a third year.

“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 Tuesday at his pre-tournament news conference ahead of the 2024 Hero World Challenge. “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.

“But things are very fluid, we’re still working through it, it’s happening daily. From a policy board standpoint or from an enterprise standpoint, things are moving and they’re constructive. But yes, definitely moving.”

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Still, questions remain as to whether a deal is every going to come to fruition. Just last week, reports came out that the PIF is working on negotiating a deal with the DP World Tour, and LIV Golf continues to negotiate with PGA Tour players ahead of the 2025 season for both leagues.

Yet Woods, who isn’t playing this week as he continues to recover from back surgery in September, preached patience.

“This is an active negotiation and things are happening daily, weekly and it’s evolving,” Woods said. “We all want to get past this and to do what’s best for the Tour and 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.”

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Sitting next to Woods for his news conference was Dr. Pawan Munjal, the executive chairman of Hero MotoCorp. Hero is a major sponsor in the world of golf. The duo announced Tuesday an extension until 2030 for Hero to sponsor the World Challenge.

In addition, Hero also sponsors events on the DP World Tour, LPGA, Indian Tour and more. That has made it difficult for numerous sponsors, including Hero.

“The game is not benefiting, the players are not benefiting,” Munjal said. “What has to happen is everyone gets back together and the game moves on, the players move on, the sponsors move on. There is confusion for the sponsors as well right now, what to do, where to go, how to look at the future. The future is uncertain, which is not a good thing.”

Although Woods says sides are progressing, it seems a deal isn’t coming before the end of the year.

However, that doesn’t mean unity isn’t approaching.

“I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don’t know yet,” Woods said.

Report: LIV Golf’s 2025 schedule is taking shape, league not returning to Houston or Nashville

More schedule details are emerging.

The LIV Golf League’s fourth season is set to begin in 88 days, and the full schedule has yet to be announced.

The first four events will take place internationally, beginning in Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday, a report from Sports Business Journal indicated LIV Golf is moving in on announcing more stops for its 2025 slate.

LIV Golf’s schedule will remain at 14 events next year, though a majority of those are expected to occur outside of the United States. However, events in Chicago and Dallas will return, though the event at Maridoe in Dallas, which was the season finale in 2024, will move to a June spot on the calendar, per the report.

The league also won’t return to Nashville or Houston, but the report says an event is expected in Indianapolis at an undisclosed course.

Events are also expected to return to Valderrama in Spain and another tournament in the United Kingdom, both which have been contested the previous two seasons.

The league has yet to set rosters for the 2025 season, either, though that likely won’t be announced until next year. The LIV Golf Promotions Event is set for Dec. 12-14 in Saudi Arabia, where one player will earn a spot in the league.

Rory McIlroy says Donald Trump’s election win ‘clears the way’ for PGA Tour-PIF deal

“But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf.”

Could Donald Trump’s return to the White House in Washington D.C. pave the way for a unification of men’s professional golf? Rory McIlroy thinks so.

McIlroy has previously stated the U.S. Department of Justice could be an obstacle to the PGA Tour’s talks with the PIF. With Trump’s imminent return to office, that may not be the case.

“Given today’s news with what’s happened in America, I think it clears the way a little bit,” McIlroy said Wednesday while speaking to reporters ahead of the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. “So we’ll see.”

Reports surfaced over the weekend about a deal being agreed to between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, though McIlroy said he was unaware of anything being done. However, with the United States presidential election in the rearview mirror, McIlroy believes the civil war in men’s professional golf could be near its end.

McIlroy was asked about Trump’s comments recently from a podcast where the president-elect said he could strike a deal between the sides in 15 minutes and that all of the best players need to be together.

“He might be able to. He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too,” McIlroy stated.

“I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously Trump has great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows? But I think as the President of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

McIlroy also noted PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was in Saudi Arabia last week meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Monahan is briefing the Tour’s transaction committee Wednesday night.

“So maybe some news comes out of that.”

With a top-two finish this week, McIlroy can claim the DP World Tour’s season-long race for the sixth time in his career, which would tie Seve Ballesteros for the second most all-time.

Photos: 2024 LIV Golf Team Championship at Maridoe Golf Club

The final event of the LIV Golf League’s season is here.

The final event of the LIV Golf League’s season is here.

The second full season of competition, or third overall with the first year being a series of invitationals, comes to a close this week at Maridoe Golf Club outside of Dallas in the 2024 LIV Golf Team Championship.

All 13 teams will compete for the top prize, though only four will have a chance to win the title come Sunday, when the event switches from match play to stroke play.

Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, the defending LIV Golf team champions, are the top seed and have a quarterfinal bye on Friday. Also earning byes are Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII and Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC.

The event gets underway Friday. Here’s a look at the best photos from the 2024 LIV Golf Team Championship.

Report: PGA Tour officials meeting with PIF in New York

PGA Tour Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder and John W. Henry are two negotiating with the Saudis.

Officials from the PGA Tour and those from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are meeting Tuesday in New York, according to an ESPN report. The two parties are allegedly working on finalizing terms of a deal that would inject more than $1 billion from the PIF into PGA Tour Enterprises, the newly created for-profit entity launched earlier this year.

The meetings are scheduled to last multiple days, according to ESPN.

PGA Tour Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder and Fenway Sports Group owner John W. Henry are two people negotiating with the Saudis.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF, which has financed the LIV Golf League the past three years, signed a framework agreement on June 6, 2023, to form an alliance. The deadline expired Dec. 31 last year, but both sides have continued to work toward a potential deal, even if talk has seemed slowed in recent months.

Photos on social media surfaced Tuesday from the account radaratlas2, which regularly tracks flights, showing jets from the PGA Tour, Saudis and Tiger Woods all converging in the New York area on Monday. The ESPN story suggested that Woods was part of the discussions, but Golfweek has learned that Woods was in town for a charity event.

Last month at the Tour Championship, Monahan offered little insight into ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudis.

“As it relates to any details of the conversations that we’re having with the Public Investment Fund, I’m not going to disclose details. I’m not going to get into specifics.”

“I’m not going to negotiate details in public or disclose details or specifics. All I can say is that conversations continue, and they’re productive.”

“When you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes, and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations. I think that’s where things stand.”

(Editor’s note: This story was updated to include Tiger Woods’ reason for traveling to New York.)

LIV Golf announces first four events of 2025, but when they’re scheduled says a lot

LIV Golf is going international to start 2025.

Late Tuesday night, LIV Golf announced its first four events of the 2025 season, which will be the fourth for the league. The four tournaments all have international flair, but it’s where they fall on the calendar that paints a bleak outlook for what’s to come in the journey to have all of the best players play together again in more than the four major championships.

LIV will begin its season Feb. 6-8 with LIV Golf Riyadh, the first time LIV Golf has played in Saudi Arabia’s capital city. The next week, the league will travel Down Under for LIV Golf Adelaide from Feb. 14-16, which has been by far the most successful LIV event through the league’s first three years.

Next, LIV will have another two events in back-to-back weeks, starting with Hong Kong Golf Club for LIV Golf Hong Kong, March 7-9. Then, it’s a return to Sentosa Golf Club from March 14-16 for LIV Golf Singapore.

“As we set our sights on 2025, LIV Golf is gearing up for our most ambitious season start, to date,” said Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s CEO and commissioner. “Since our debut in 2022, LIV Golf has played 34 tournaments in nine different countries across four continents. We are a global league with a global footprint, and we’re excited to kick off next season with four truly international events that will deliver our unique blend of elite golf, entertainment and culture to fans around the world.”

Seeing LIV Golf announce events for the 2025 season should be no surprise, as there has been hardly any traction toward a deal to bring the top players in the world back together to play on one tour, but the dates of LIV’s events are a stark contrast to anything seen in the first three years of the league.

LIV Golf has normally played its events opposite of the PGA Tour’s top tournaments, having some crossover but often doing what it can to avoid spots on the calendar like signature events.

Not next year.

LIV Golf Riyadh will be contested the same week as the WM Phoenix Open. Then, LIV Golf Adelaide will go head-to-head with Tiger Woods’ event, the Genesis Invitational.

Fast forward to March, LIV Golf Hong Kong is the same week as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and LIV Golf Singapore will go head-to-head with the Tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship.

It’s important to note, with all four LIV events playing essentially a day ahead and overnight live in the United States, they won’t be competing directly with the Tour events. Nevertheless, the more and more time goes on, it seems less and less likely there’s traction for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to come together.

The schedule release for LIV Golf in 2025 shows the league doesn’t care what’s going on in the PGA Tour world.

Two events remain for LIV Golf in the 2024 season, starting next week in Chicago at Bolingbrook, the individual season finale. Then the team championship will happen the following week in Dallas at Maridoe.

Jay Monahan talks at the Travelers Championship, reveals little about PIF/LIV negotiations

Monahan met with the media Wednesday morning.

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Two years ago at the Travelers Championship, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sat behind an elevated desk and tried to project strength and resolve. He talked for roughly 40 minutes that day about a reworked, calendar-based schedule for the tour, massive purse increases at Signature Events and how challenging it is for players to earn a spot on the PGA Tour. With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) poaching stars and signing them to compete in LIV Golf, Monahan was trying to keep more of the PGA Tour’s stars from defecting and the rank-and-file golfers happy.

Wednesday morning, Monahan stood in front of the same desk instead of sitting behind it. Air-conditioning protected everyone from the sweltering conditions outside at TPC River Highlands. Reporters, holding audio recorders, encircled him.

Monahan spoke in a low, conversational voice. He was measured and controlled, and he stayed on brand. For just under 15 minutes, the head of the PGA Tour talked about the state of the PGA Tour. However, at the end of his chat with reporters, there were only a few things that we learned, and if golf fans were dreaming that rumors of a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announcing a deal soon could be true, Monahan did nothing to make that dream feel like a reality.

Travelers: Best photos

Here are the most significant takeaways.

1. Negotiations with PIF are continuing in the background, not through the media

“I know (the media) are eager to know more,” Monahan said. “But I will go back to the meeting that we had just two Fridays ago in New York, when our entire transaction committee, including Tiger Woods and Adam Scott being in person and Rory dialing in from the Memorial Tourmament, alongside Yasir Al Rumyan, the governor of the PIF, and representatives of the PIF … it was a very productive discussion. As we said, progress was made and we continue to be in regular dialog. I had a 10 o’clock call this morning with the PIF and we’re doing that multiple times a week.”

Rumors that were floated last week on social media that a deal between the PGA Tour and PIF would be announced here this week proved false, and Monahan is clearly not going to talk about the specifics of the negotiations outside closed-door meetings.

“I’d like to give you more, but I would say to you that there are a lot of important aspects that we talked about in that meeting, aspects that will be important towards the final agreement that we got consensus on, and then there were a number of areas that we recognized that we weren’t going to, but identified them and that’s what we’re focused on.”

2. The ‘Framework’ is not being used

On June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour and PIF announced that a framework had been reached, ending the litigation between the two groups. It was not a takeover or merger agreement, but in the words of the PGA Tour was, “a set of requirements and safeguards that guide our work toward a definitive agreement.”

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and every other PGA Tour player was shocked by the announcement and caught off guard. However, a year later, that agreement has lost most of its value.

“I would say that the framework agreement is still relevant, there are aspects of it that still continue to be in play, but I would put it that we’ve all stepped back and we’ve started anew,” Monahan said. “Particularly with the introduction of our transaction committee, our players’ involvement … I would say that the vast majority of what we’re talking about, we’re building from the ground up.”

3. With complexity comes opportunity

Between the interests and concerns of the PGA Tour, PIF, players, the Department of Justice and fans, the negotiations taking place to unify men’s professional golf are complicated. Very complicated.

When Monahan was asked whether members of the media and fans fully understand how nuanced and intricate the discussions are, he said when business heavyweights like John Henry (the principal owner of the Boston Red, Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool Football Club, and the Boston Globe), Sam Kennedy (Red Sox president), Arthur Blank and others say this is one of the most complex scenarios they have ever seen, it’s hard to think anyone on the outside of the talks could fully grasp them.

“So as it relates to whether or not the complexity is being underestimated, I think that it is only fair to say that unless you have a full context for everything that is being discussed, it would be unreasonable for anyone to think that you would fully understand the complexity,” Monahan said.

At that point, Monahan uttered a phrase that would make any optimist proud: “With complexity comes opportunity.”

4. Tiger’s exemption

Following Tuesday evening’s PGA Tour policy board meeting, the tour announced that Woods had been given a special exemption into all future Signature Events. Right now, these events are contested by golfers who finished in the top 50 of the prior season’s FedExCup, players who win PGA Tour events, golfers who are ranked in the top 30 on the Official World Golf Ranking and other elite-player rankings.

“It is something that was important to our membership, it was something we talked about with the PAC (Player’s Advisory Council), it was important to our player directors, it’s important to our board,” Monahan said.

“It’s important to me because, as the exemption says, the man has won more than 80 events and I think being able to give him the opportunity to compete in these events … any event he’s ever played in, he’s made it bigger, he’s made it better and he’s drawn more eyeballs to it.”

PGA of America executives ‘absolutely’ worried about ‘messy’ state of pro golf

“I think the best thing for the game is a deal. And we’ve been very consistent on that front,” said CEO Seth Waugh.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This week’s 2024 PGA Championship will most likely feature more LIV Golf players – 16, to be exact – than any other major championship this season as the professional game will briefly unite once again at Valhalla Golf Club.

Ahead of the 106th playing of the PGA of America’s flagship event, the organization’s President John Lindert, CEO Seth Waugh and Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh all gathered for a press conference and addressed the “messy” state of pro golf as the PGA Tour and LIV continue to battle for eyeballs and interest.

Waugh said he was “absolutely” worried about the game at the professional level, noting how “it seems to get messier every week.” As an optimist, however, he hopes this is the darkness before the dawn.

“I think the best thing for the game is a deal. And we’ve been very consistent on that front,” said Waugh. “What has been an unsustainable business model has put pressure on other places like the (PGA Tour) that creates some financial dynamics as well as other dynamics that are very hard, and quite frankly it puts some financial pressure on us, as well.”

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“I don’t think the game is big enough for two tours like that, and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy. We’ve said that, really, from the beginning,” he continued. “I hope there’s a deal. I think both sides are not only committed to trying to find a deal but really need a deal, and in my history of deal making, when both sides kind of need something to happen, it generally does.”

Waugh wouldn’t speak on the timing and noted while he has connections to those in the discussions, he doesn’t have any information the rest of us don’t already possess. Tiger Woods, who is on the subcommittee that will negotiate with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, spoke on the status of the negotiations on Tuesday and echoed what’s been said for months: progress is being made. Jon Rahm, who made the move to LIV late last year, said he thinks a deal will be done but doesn’t want a rushed resolution.

“I hope there’s urgency because I do think it’s doing damage to the Tour, to the game,” added Waugh. “As I said earlier, I hope it’s short-term damage, as opposed to permanent damage, and so I hope there’s some urgency in the timing around it because I just don’t think it’s a healthy situation right now.”

When it comes to players in the field, the PGA of America will invite those in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking who aren’t already exempt. Of the 16 LIV players on site this week, seven received special invites from the PGA of America. Four were inside the top 100 of the OWGR. Of the three who were not, Dean Burmester and David Puig both tried to earn their way in by playing on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour, respectively, and both won at least once. The outlier is Gooch, who has only played for LIV since he joined the Saudi-backed circuit and earlier this month said he won’t be attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open while 34 of his colleagues will try to play their way in.

Talor Gooch of the United States walks to the eighth tee during a practice round prior to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 15, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Haigh avoided a direct question about Gooch’s invitation being strictly based on his LIV performance – he’s currently eighth on LIV’s season-long standings for 2024 but won the season-long individual championship last year – and gave no hint about LIV-specific qualifying criteria being implemented.

“Well, our invitation process has been pretty much the same for many years. You know, we have 15 criteria that are pretty much set, and then there’s an opportunity for us to invite those players who may not be in those 15 criteria,” said Haigh. “That process over the years has made us be able to have what we feel is a field we are really proud of. It brings the best players in the whole world together to compete on a great golf course for a major championship, and that’s what we pride — we are very proud of the field that we have, and we feel they are the best players in the game.”

“We have the most flexibility of any of the majors, right. We are not bound to World Rankings. We are not bound to special invitations,” Waugh added. “But Kerry has the ability, we all have the ability, to kind of lean in and really pick the best field in golf, and that’s never been, frankly, more important than it is right now.”

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Jon Rahm dishes on love for PGA Tour, Saudi PIF negotiations and his 2024 PGA Championship chances

“See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Conversations with players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf don’t carry on for too long without someone inevitably bringing up the ongoing discussions between the Tour and LIV’s financiers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Naturally, ahead of his eighth PGA Championship start this week at Valhalla Golf Club, Jon Rahm was asked about his viewpoint of the negotiations from the opposite side of the professional golf aisle.

“See you guys keep saying ‘the other side’ but I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not,” said Rahm. “I still want to support the PGA Tour. And I think that’s an important distinction to make.”

“I don’t feel like I’m on the other side. I’m just not playing there. That’s at least personally,” he added. “I’m going to say what I’ve said all along, I hope we reach a resolution and a resolution that’s beneficial for everyone.”

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“I’ve said however I can, I would like to support (the Tour), right. So even though I’m playing full-time on LIV Golf, like I’ve said many times, had I been allowed, I would have played some events earlier in the year, and if allowed in the future and not conflicting with my schedule, I would play in the future,” Rahm continued. “The PGA Tour has given me so much and has given me this platform and the opportunity that I’m not really going to turn to the side and go against it, because I’m not going against it.”

When it comes to interviews and press conferences, Rahm is one of the best in the game. He’ll answer whatever is asked and do so in a thoughtful manner. He’s smart, so he has to know that claims of loving the Tour can fall on deaf ears after he joined the very league that’s pushed the Tour to the brink.

That said, he’s still advocating for a global tour with a reunited game, but fell back on the often-used saying by players these days that there are smarter people than him to figure out how to do it. He also doesn’t think either side should rush to a resolution.

“This would be some decisions and negotiations that can’t be taken lightly, so it should take quite a bit of time to get it done properly,” Rahm explained. “I don’t know if that takes one, two, three, five, six years. I don’t know what that might be like. But I don’t feel like I’m on any rush to make something happen today, right.”

The three-time member of Team Europe also dished on his desire to represent Team Europe in the Ryder Cup next year at Bethpage Black in New York. The DP World Tour recently clarified that LIV players can serve their suspensions while competing on the Saudi-backed league, which clears the way for European players to compete in the Ryder Cup so long as they pay their fines and make four DP World Tour starts. Rahm’s wife, Kelly, is pregnant with their third child, so her due date will impact Rahm’s schedule, but the big man from the Basque region of Spain is committed to earning a spot on Team Europe in 2025.

“I said I would do whatever I can to get into that Ryder Cup team, and I made that commitment to (captain Luke Donald), and I want to be able to be a part of it,” said Rahm. “So again the schedule’s going to be the hardest thing in that regard.”

Rahm loves watching old clips and highlights of past tournaments, so of course he did a YouTube deep dive on Valhalla, which has hosted three previous PGA Championships (1996, 2000, 2014), two Senior PGA Championship (2004, 2011) and the 2008 Ryder Cup. Rahm watched the 2014 PGA Championship live, but Anthony Kim walking off the 14th green after drubbing Rahm’s fellow countryman and friend Sergio Garcia, 5 and 4, in 2008 was the first thing that came to mind about Valhalla. Now LIV Golf colleagues, Rahm brought up the match with Kim ahead of this week’s major.

“As a 13-year-old I was very upset when he walked off the green on 14 after beating Sergio. I was like, ‘Man, that’s not fair, he’s such a you-know-what,’ and we laughed about it,” said Rahm. “I made him feel pretty old, but it was pretty cool to talk about it and talk about the Ryder Cup in that sense.”

So far this season on LIV, Rahm hasn’t finished worse than tenth in seven starts and has a trio of top fives under his belt. The two-time major champion appeared to take slight offense with a question about the state of his game, saying “I don’t think my game is in any sort of issues.” Rahm is the first to put his hand up and say he didn’t play well at Augusta National last month as he attempted to defend his 2023 Masters title, but was also quick to note the success he’s had with LIV thus far.

“I know it’s smaller fields, but I’ve been playing good golf. It’s just the one major that I played clearly wasn’t great,” Rahm said. “Have I played my best golf? No. But I do feel the last few weeks, especially coming off Singapore, I felt, you know, made a couple tweaks that you wouldn’t be able to tell. It’s just very minor things.”

“So I never, never felt like I was far off, and when I say I’m not playing my best, just hadn’t had my A-game for a week yet, but I still I’ve been close to my A game and B+ multiple times.”

If Rahm can find that A-game once again this week, don’t be surprised if he claims major championship number three.

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Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott join PGA Tour subcommittee that will negotiate with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

The original reports of a five-person committee were refuted by McIlroy on Thursday.

An AP report on Wednesday night cited Tiger Woods as the lone player on the five-person PGA Tour Transaction Subcommittee that will further the discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

After shooting a 4-under 67 to sit T-2 at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship on Thursday afternoon, Rory McIlroy refuted the report and said both he and Adam Scott were also on the seven-person subcommittee that includes Woods, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, former Tour player and current liaison Joe Ogilvie, Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry and Valero CEO Joe Gorder. The latter are also part of the Strategic Sports Group that was formed to develop PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity that was initially slated to be created by the Tour and Saudi PIF as a result of last summer’s shocking framework agreement. The subcommittee will report to the Tour board.

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, McIlroy said he wouldn’t be taking Webb Simpson’s place on the Tour’s policy board because players were “uncomfortable” with his potential return. He did, however, insist that he was still interested in helping with the PIF discussions however he was able.

McIlroy is one of few players who has a relationship with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan that dates back to 2022. Woods and the other player directors on Tour met with Al-Rumayyan back in March in the Bahamas. Said Woods of the meeting at the Masters, “I don’t know if we’re closer, but certainly we’re headed in the right direction. That was a very positive meeting, and I think both sides came away from the meeting feeling positive.”

The PGA Tour’s Chief Competitions Officer Tyler Dennis told media at the Wells Fargo Championship that there were no material updates at this point on the discussions with PIF, but if we’ve learned anything this week, there’s plenty going on behind the scenes.

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