Tiger Woods reportedly hosted a meeting in the Bahamas on Monday that featured PGA Tour player directors — including Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay — and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who runs Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which finances and operates the LIV Golf League.
The meeting in Albany was described to Sports Illustrated as a “meet and greet and learn” session. Tiger was “very engaged”, per player director Webb Simpson.
Tiger has often assumed the role of de facto commissioner amid the LIV tension and was recently named vice president of PGA Tour Enterprises — a for-profit venture devoted to growing the game — created by $3 billion in investment by Strategic Sports Group (SSG).
“Outside of our meeting he’s been super engaged along the way,” added Simpson. “He’s a great leader and I really think he’s taken the position of our leader and we rely on him a lot.”
Despite four years of splintering, Tiger and Al-Rumayyan — arguably the two most powerful people in golf — had never met. (Representatives from LIV Golf once offered Tiger hundreds of millions.) Woods and Al-Rumayyan played a round at the Albany course where Woods hosts the Hero World Challenge.
The meeting “was the next right thing to do,” Simpson said. “I don’t know what exactly it’s going to look like in a year or two or three or five. It felt like it was the next right thing.”
Albany, the "luxury resort community" in the Bahamas, has seen some wild shit:
—Developed by British billionaire/Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis, who was arrested for insider trading last year
—Hosted meeting between Tiger Woods/PGA Tour and Yasir Al-Rumayyan of Saudi PIF
—Sam… pic.twitter.com/4ZbYjelUIU— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) March 20, 2024
Reports of a summit surfaced at the Players Championship. Spieth and Cantlay confirmed the plan while insisting that it was more of a listening session. Last week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said talks with PIF were “accelerating” but still had a ways to go before the framework agreement announced in June could be ironed out.
Rory McIlroy — who resigned from the PGA Tour policy board in 2023 — also voiced his support for the meeting and endorsed PIF's intentions. Tiger Woods was not present at TPC Sawgrass.
“What I was interested in going there was to learn more about who he is and what he’s thinking,” Simpson recounted. “Learn about LIV more. What was your intention and hope there? How’s it going? All that kind of stuff. A meet and greet and learn. I think he wanted to learn from us kind of what we think. We wanted to figure out what he thinks.
“If definitely seems like he envisions a place in the game of golf. We didn’t get as far as what he wants and what does LIV want. He certainly seems engaged enough in the game already that he has desires to see the game grow globally, I think it’s fair to say. And he mentioned growing it in Saudi to try and do that.”
On Tuesday, Monahan called the meeting “constructive” but was sparse on substance. Monahan, SSG reps, and the two other PGA Tour player directors, Peter Malnati and Adam Scott, were reportedly on hand in the Bahamas.
“I still certainly think a path forward for professional golf makes more sense with him on our side than him as an antagonist,” Malnati said about Al-Rumayyan.
The best players from LIV Golf and the PGA Tour — and Tiger Woods, we think — will next compete alongside each other at The Masters, beginning on April 11.
“Ultimately, I want us all to play together more than just the majors,” said Simpson. “It doesn’t have to be just the PGA Tour. That’s why we all love sports. Best teams in the Super Bowl. Best teams in NBA Finals.
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