Tiger Woods said that a meeting with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan last month has helped with negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF.
Woods, who has taken a key place in negotiations as a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, and Al-Rumayyan were the headliners of a meeting the day after The Players Championship in the Bahamas, which included key representatives from the tour, PIF (which funds and operates LIV) and Strategic Sports Group (which has committed more than a billion dollars in funding to PGA Tour Enterprises). The groups continue to hunt for a solution that would seek to end the division between the two tours since 2022.
“I don’t know if we’re closer but we’re certainly headed in the right direction,” Woods said Sunday after his final round at the Masters. “That was a very positive meeting and both sides came away from the meeting positive.”
Woods shot a 77 in his fourth round and walked off the course in last place in the field, 16-over for the week. He made the cut after finishing the first two rounds at 1-over, but a record-high 82 on Saturday undid Woods. He had one birdie on Sunday (on the par-5 No. 2), three bogeys and one triple-bogey (No. 5, when he blocked his tee shot so far right into the woods he had to take an unplayable lie and retee.).
Just playing remains a considerable challenge for the 48-year-old Woods: he told his Round 4 playing partner Neal Shipley that he got up at 3:45 a.m. to begin to get his body ready for a 9:35 a.m. tee time.
This is the first major Woods has played all 72 holes at since the 2022 Masters, when he finished 47th. While Woods’ original timeline had him playing once a month this season, he did not play in between the Genesis Invitational in January and the Masters. The PGA Championship at Valhalla is next, from May 16-19.
Woods spoke about preparing to play it, the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and Open Championship at Royal Troon, though the preparation level will have to be different — he’s been forthcoming that he practices very little, and his Augusta course knowledge made the ramp-up to this event easier.
“I heard there’s some changes to the next couple of sites, so got to get up there early and check them out,” Woods said.
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