NASSAU, Bahamas – Tiger Woods is frustrated.
There have been countless hours spent talking about June 6 among PGA Tour types. Why the circuit changed course so dramatically? Why players – particularly top players, most notably Tiger and Rory McIlroy – were blindsided? Why Tour leadership forged an unprecedented path without a modicum of input from the membership?
Woods has spent the last decade frustrated with his game and his body following multiple surgeries — including the most recent procedure in April on his ankle — that have limited him to just eight starts over the last three seasons. But nothing appears to have rocked his foundational beliefs like June 6, the day the Tour announced its framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Tuesday at Albany was the first time Woods spoke publicly about that landmark day.
Among the secretive agreement’s fallout was a wholesale change to the Tour’s decision-making process. As coups go, the shift in power was civil, but make no mistake — it was a change Tiger and the remainder of the rank and file demanded.
“My reaction was surprised as I’m sure a lot of the players were taken back by it, by what happened, so quickly without any input or any information about it, it was just thrown out there,” Woods said. “I was very surprised that the process was what it was. We were very frustrated with what happened and we took steps going forward to ensure that we were not going to be left out of the process like we were.”
For Tour wonks, that process now includes Woods as a player director on the policy board. He’d never served on the policy board or the Player Advisory Council and his addition increased member representation to six, essentially giving players the upper hand in the case of a split vote with the five independent directors. The current director of the PGA of America also has a seat on the board but he wouldn’t necessarily vote with a given block.
For 40 minutes on Tuesday, Tiger was peppered with a full range of questions, from the Tour’s ongoing negotiations with the PIF to what he envisions the game will look like two years from now, and he almost always returned to a common theme — frustration and governance.
“I was frustrated with the fact that the players were never involved,” he reiterated. “This is our tour and we were all taken back by it. It happened so quickly without any of our involvement. No one knew. That can’t happen again.”
For nearly three decades, Woods has spent countless hours answering questions and never really saying much. That’s not criticism, just the byproduct of being the greatest player of your generation. But this was different. He had a message and he didn’t care whose toes he smashed to let the world know.
He’d had more than five months to craft his message and on this he left no room for interpretation or nuance. The type of shadowy deals that produced the framework agreement won’t be tolerated and to that end, the circuit has spent the time since June 6 taking a deep dive into the circuit’s governance.
While the golf world is rightfully fixated on the negotiations with the PIF and “dozens” of other potential investors, according to a memo sent to players earlier this month, Woods and the other top players have been looking into how decisions are made via an ad hoc committee that includes Davis Love III.
“I know the players, the top players, the board and the guys like me, who are sitting on the outside edges helping out, are all in alignment and working with management,” Love said at the RSM Classic two weeks ago.
That’s working with management, not following management.
Woods has thoughts on the potential deal with the PIF or some other private equity, including the looming Dec. 31 deadline. Most involved with the negotiations have considered that deadline something of a moving target and contend that if all sides believe they’re making progress it could be extended into next year. But Woods seemed a bit more aware of the late hour.
“We have multiple options, but still, we would like to have a deal done December 31. That’s what the agreement said in the summer and all parties understand that,” he said. “But there are other options out there.”
He was also asked about how the Tour and LIV Golf could possibly coexist and what that would mean for those players who bolted the Tour for LIV’s riches.
“As far as a pathway [back to the Tour], we’re still working on that. That’s part of the deal we’re working through is trying to find a path, whatever that looks like,” he said. “There are so many different scenarios. That’s why I said there’s a lot of sleepless hours trying to figure that out, a lot of participation from the players and what does that look like.”
For those who might question Tiger’s resolve on the matter, consider how adamant, and out of character, he was when asked about a possible Ryder Cup captaincy in two years at Bethpage Black, which we can all agree would be a magical confluence of star power and unfiltered New York fandom.
“Right now there’s too much at stake with our Tour to think about a Ryder Cup,” he said flatly. “We have to get this [an agreement] done and we have to be focused on this right now. The Ryder Cup, the players and everyone involved understands that this is an issue we need to focus on.”
But mostly he was frustrated with unchecked governance and a backroom deal that can never happen again.
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