After years of holding out from the large cash of LIV Golf, Tiger Woods mentioned he isn’t against the Saudi authorities’s Public Funding Fund being an investor within the PGA Tour.
Woods was requested concerning the PIF throughout a information convention forward of The Genesis at Riviera. The occasion marks Woods’ first return to the Tour because the 2023 Masters.
“Ultimately, we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product,” Woods mentioned. “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. We’re in a position right now [where] hopefully we can make our product better in the short term and long term.”
Taking money from the Saudi government has been a significant moral sticking level for a number of the gamers on the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson, the primary defector to LIV Golf, knew that going into the take care of LIV according to an excerpt from an Alan Shipnuck biography on the lefty golfer.
“They’re scary motherf*****s to get involved with,” Mickelson mentioned. “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Mickelson later walked again his feedback concerning the homicide of Khashoggi as soon as LIV Golf started operations, saying “I think we all agree, the Khashoggi situation, that was reprehensible. No one’s going to argue that. But we’re golfers.”
The PGA Tour has already agreed to a $3 billion deal with Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a bunch made up of billionaire sports team owners led by John Henry and Tom Werner of Fenway Sports activities Group. Further buyers embrace Mark Attanasio (Milwaukee Brewers), Arthur Clean (Atlanta Falcons), Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics) and Steve Cohen (New York Mets), amongst others. The cash from SSG was used to discovered PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit arm that was initially designed as a framework between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the PIF. The framework had a December 31, 2023 deadline, and a deal couldn’t be reached with the unique events.
The take care of SSG opens up the potential for $930 million in fairness to be distributed throughout previous, former, and future gamers, according to a memo despatched to PGA Tour gamers on February 7. One other $600 million could be distributed via recurring grants.
The take care of SSG could imply the PGA doesn’t even want the take care of the PIF. When PGA Tour Coverage Board member Jordan Spieth was asked about the SSG deal, he famous {that a} PIF deal is “almost not even worth talking about right this second.” Spieth added {that a} take care of the LIV Golf backers “would be a unification” for the 2 golf leagues. Nevertheless, when requested particularly a few deal, Spieth mentioned “I don’t think that it’s needed.”
According to ESPN, an extra take care of the PIF would probably inject one other $3 billion or extra into PGA Tour Enterprises.
