PINEHURST, NC — Tiger Woods agrees with the positive reports coming out of Friday’s meeting between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s Saudi owners.
“It was productive,” Woods said on Tuesday from the U.S. Open. “Is there light at the end of tunnel? I think we’re closer to that point than we were pre-meeting.”
Woods flew to New York last week to attend the meeting that included Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
Rory McIlroy was the first player to express optimism on the meeting, which he attended virtually from the Memorial Tournament, adding that the two groups have been meeting remotely three times a week for several weeks.
Webb Simpson, a player director on the influential PGA Tour policy board, also agreed.
“I think there’s positive momentum going right now,” Simpson said from Pinehurst. “I think both sides seem to not only be engaged, but want to continue to be engaged as much as possible. That feels good. It feels good that we’re finally at a place where I think we all want similar things.”
More than a year after the infamous “framework deal” was announced at the RBC Canadian Open, the golf world remains fractured. Even more difficult than putting together a multi-billion dollar deal will be the task of putting a broken game back together in a professional game marred by major grievances and massive egos.
But according to Woods, even that was on the the table last Friday.
“We discussed a lot of different endings and how we get there,” he said. “I think that both sides walked away from the meeting, we all felt very positive in that meeting. As I said, both sides were looking at different ways to get to the end game.
“I think that both sides shared a deep passion for how we need to get there. And yes, there are going to be differences of opinion, but we all want the same thing.”