Photo: Collected
Tiger Woods and five other players on the PGA Tour Policy Board are being pushed to meet Monday with Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, according to multiple reports on Friday (16 March).
Golfweek and The Golf Channel reported the six players on the tour policy board, which must approve any final deal on the PGA-PIF merger framework unveiled last June, were being encouraged to meet with Al-Rumayyan at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida -- site of this week's Players Championship.
Joining Woods among those on the board are fellow Americans Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson plus Australian Adam Scott.
Golfweek called the gathering an "icebreaker" in a bid to speed the talks, which have extended beyond an original December deadline, to unite the PGA and the financial backers of the upstart LIV Golf League.
"We're being encouraged to potentially meet with them, but at the same time we probably feel like our membership should know timing and what could happen and just, in general, maybe it's just a meet," Spieth told reporters after his second round at the Players on Friday.
"We're being encouraged, obviously, which I think is probably a good thing that the entire board should if there's going to be any potential for a negotiation."
The six players are also on the board of directors for the new PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit arm formed in a merger with the US team sport owners of Strategic Sports Group (SSG), which invested $1.5 billion into the new venture.
That Enterprises board reportedly is set to meet at Ponte Vedra Beach on Tuesday.
"If the PIF thinks it's beneficial, we meet and I think it's a good thing to do," Scott told Sports Illustrated. "As far as getting on with business, let's get on with business.
"I'm curious to see how it all pans out just like everyone in the game," Scott told Golfweek. "I'm as curious as I was to meet any of the (Enterprises) investor groups last year, just to put a face to a name and hopefully see that everyone is going into this with the right intent."
Messenger/Disha
