Tiger Woods has offered a rare insight into negotiations between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment fund – and admitted he doesn’t know when the deal will be done
Tiger Woods has expressed his frustration at a merger deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf still not being completed, as he admitted that even if things were agreed between the relevant parties – it’s up to the Department of Justice to rubber-stamp it
It’s been almost 18 months since a framework agreement was drawn up between the PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, for the sport’s civil war to end.
But despite the bitterness between the two sides softening – as was evident when Monahan and Al-Rumayyan played golf together at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship pro/am in October – the deal is still seemingly nowhere near completion.
Speaking at a press conference for his Hero World Championship on Tuesday, Woods expressed his unhappiness over the standoff, saying: “Wish we had something more concrete. Still working through it, it’s happening daily. Things are moving and they’re constructive.
He went on to echo Rory McIlroy’s view of the standoff, blaming the Department of Justice for the hold-up. Woods continued: “Even if we would’ve had a deal done by now, it’s still in the DOJ’s hands.”
The PGA Tour, PIF and the DP World Tour previously agreed a deal in 2023 which would see the three sides combine their commercial assets and therefore allow free movement between the tours – as LIV Golf would be included in that new merger.
Tiger Woods wants the PGA Tour’s merger with LIV Golf to be sorted as soon as possible
But the DOJ’s Antitrust Division is believed to be the main stumbling block, with McIlroy stating last month that he hoped Donald Trump’s return to the Presidency could help things progress quicker.
It’s still largely unknown what will happen to the existing tours in golf once the merger is completed, with PGA Tour players having been suspended and fined millions of dollars for fleeing to the Saudi-backed breakaway.
The likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm will all theoretically be able to move freely between tours and compete wherever they see fit.
And Woods admitted he doesn’t entirely know what the sport will look like once the paperwork is all signed for the merger. He said: “I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don’t know yet.”
For now, LIV Golf continues to be linked with big-name PGA Tour players, with Tony Finau believed to be wanted by the league for a currently-unnamed team. But unlike last year, when Rahm left for LIV in a deal worth £450million – there’s no question that the heated divide in the sport is cooling.
The likes of Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton recently returned to the DP World Tour and look likely to play – along with Rahm – at next year’s Ryder Cup in New York.
