Tiger Woods reveals ‘daily talks’ about LIV players rejoining PGA Tour
Speaking ahead of his return to golf at the Genesis Invitational, Woods divulged that he is having constant conversations and emails about bringing LIV players back to the PGA Tour
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Your support makes all the difference.Tiger Woods has revealed that there are ‘daily talks’ about the potential return of LIV players to the PGA Tour and how such a move could possibly take place.
Woods admitted that the tour was looking into different ways to allow players who made the switch to LIV to rejoin the PGA Tour in an attempt to reunify the sport.
No solutions have been created yet but the constant dialogue between the parties is a sign that a compromise could be on the horizon.
“We are looking into, in all the different models, for pathways back,” Woods said ahead of the Genesis Invitational, where he will play his first tournament of 2024.
“What that looks like, what the impact is for the players who stayed and have not left, and how we making our product better going forward - there is no answer to that right now.
“We are looking at varying degrees of ideas and what that looks like in the short-term we don’t know, in the long-term we don’t know what that looks like.
“Trust me, there are daily and weekly emails and talks about this and what this means for our tour going forward.”
This update from Woods comes on the back of his suggestion that the PGA Tour no longer needs to strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – which bankrolls LIV Golf – thanks to a £1.1bn investment deal with Strategic Sports Group (SSG).
“Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product,” Woods said, “Financially, we don’t right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers.
“Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above.”
World No. 2, Rory McIlroy, who posted a three over par opening round in California also spoke about welcoming LIV players back to the PGA Tour.
Having initially been against the idea, the Northern Irishman has changed his tune in recent weeks saying: “I think life is about choices, guys made choices to go and play LIV; guys made choices to stay here.
“If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try and do something, let them come back.
“I think it’s hard to punish people. I don’t think there should be a punishment. Obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties.
“It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game.
“That’s my opinion of it. The faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible, I think, is great for golf.”
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