TIGER WOODS WAS “very frustrated” by the manner in which the PGA announced its landmark agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) back in June and says there are “multiple options” available to all parties in the event that the PGA-PIF merger is not formalised by the 31 December deadline.
Woods, the 15-time major winner, was speaking ahead of Thursday’s start to the Hero World Challenge, the 20-player event he hosts at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.
The tournament will mark Woods’ return to competitive golf six months after he underwent surgery on the ankle of the same leg to which he sustained serious injuries in a 2021 car accident.
Woods said that his initial reaction to the game-changing announcement on 6 June was one of surprise, “just like a lot of the players were taken back by what happened — so quickly and without any input or any kind of information about it.”
“It was just thrown out there,” he added. “I was very surprised that the process was what it was.
“We were very frustrated by what happened and we took steps, going forward, to ensure that we weren’t going to be left out of the process like we were. Part of that process was putting me onto the board and [me] accepting that position.”
Woods said that he’s now relatively content with the direction in which the PGA Tour is travelling but that he remains frustrated at the “slowness” with which changes in governance are being implemented.
“And 31 December is coming up very quickly”, Woods added, “and there’s a timetable there that we would like to implement some of these changes that have not taken place.
“All the player-directors have worked tireless hours to make sure that we have the best deal for all the players that are involved — the entire PGA Tour.”
When asked how optimistic he was that golf’s historic merger could be completed by that original New Year’s deadline, Woods replied: “All the parties are talking and we’re aggressively working on trying to get a deal done. And we’re all trying to make sure that the process is better, too.
“The implementation of governance is one of the main topics; getting the deal done [is the priority] but making sure it gets done the right way.
We have multiple options but still we would like to have a deal done by 31 December. That’s what the agreement said in the summer and all parties understand that. But there are other options out there.
Woods explained that among the key changes in governance for which player-directors are pushing is for the players to have a greater input and to be able to affect change more quickly than is currently possible. “I think the entire board has been very acceptant of that,” Woods said. “We would just like to make the process faster.”
Woods revealed on Tuesday that his right ankle is without pain and stressed that he is not concerned about walking 72 holes this week in his return to competition for the first time since April ankle surgery.
“My game feels rusty. I haven’t played in a while,” Woods said. “I’m excited to compete and play and I’m just as curious as all of you to see what happens because I haven’t done it in a while.”
Woods, who turns 48 on 30 December, added:
I don’t have any of the pain I had at Augusta or pre-that in my ankle. Other parts are taking the brunt of the load so I’m a little more sore in other areas. But the ankle is good so that surgery was a success.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner has not played in an event since withdrawing from the third round of the Masters last April due to plantar fasciitis.
“I’ve played a lot of holes,” Woods said. “But I haven’t used a pencil on a scorecard.”
Asked if he can still win, Woods replied, “Absolutely.”
Woods said he could play as much as once a month in 2024, likely starting at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, which benefits his charity foundation, and flowing into the majors.
“The best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month,” Woods said. “I think that’s realistic.
“I need to get myself ready for all of that. This week is a big step in that direction.”
Woods was limping around Augusta National in pain seven months ago on the same layout where he won his first major in 1997 and his most recent in 2019.
“At some point in time, I was going to have to get my ankle replaced or fused,” Woods said. “That timetable was sped up. They weren’t expecting me to put that many forces into that ankle when I hit drivers.
“The ankle just went. It was bone on bone. That’s why you saw me limping and not feeling very good… we chose the fusion and put the hardware in there.
“The next part was the hard part — six months of doing nothing.”
Since the accident, Woods has struggled to walk 72 holes. He made his comeback at the 2022 Masters, finishing 47th, but has not finished a major championship since.
“I’m not concerned at all walking it,” Woods said. “I don’t have any of that ankle thing that I had… it’s the other parts of my body — my knee hurts, my back. The forces go somewhere else.”
Woods said he is not thinking about serving as the US captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup, citing his duties on the PGA Tour Policy Board.
“There’s too much at stake with our tour to think about a Ryder Cup right now,” he said. “We have to get this done. We have to be focused on this.”
Woods said he decided to play this week after he caddied for son Charlie in a junior event earlier this month.
“Was able to recover each and every day,” Woods said. “I was still lifting and doing a bunch of other things too alongside that.
“Post event, I started feeling, ‘Hey, you know what? I can probably do this’, and so why not?”
Woods will tee off Thursday in the opening round alongside US compatriot Justin Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner.
“There will come a time, I haven’t come around to it fully yet, that I won’t be able to win again,” Woods said.
“When that day comes then I’ll walk. Now I can walk.”
McDowell given LIV lifeline
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell will remain on the LIV Tour in 2024 after signing with Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC outfit.
Former US Open champion McDowell, who grew up with Koepka’s caddie Rickie Elliott, was out of contract with LIV after two years but has been provided a lifeline by Smash after Koepka’s younger brother, Chase Koepka, was relegated.
McDowell, 44, didn’t post a single top-10 finish on tour this year and wound up 42nd out of 48 players in the overall individual team standings. That put him in choppy waters upon the conclusion of his original LIV deal, as only the top 24 players are guaranteed their spot on the Saudi-backed tour the following season.
Smash GC will pay McDowell an undisclosed salary on top of any prize money he wins from tour events.
McDowell also spoke with Phil Mickelson about joining the HyFlyers but a longtime relationship with Koepka — and the chance to chase the five-time major winner next season — swayed him in the direction of Smash.
-With reporting from AFP
