Tiger Woods will be the only player on the five-man team involved in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund as the PGA Tour attempts to reach a deal with LIV Golf’s Saudi sponsors.
Woods joined the PGA Tour board of directors in August 2023, becoming the sixth player-manager and the only one whose term on the board has no limits.
According to the tour, Woods will serve on the ‘transactions subcommittee’ on the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises. The subcommittee will handle day-to-day conversations as PIF seeks to become a minority investor.
Also on the subcommittee are PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, Chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group and Joe Ogilvie, a former tour player appointed as liaison director in March.
The subcommittee reports to the full board.
Tiger Woods will be the only actor involved in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan (pictured) will also be on the subcommittee.
The events culminated in a day that began with Rory McIlroy loses the inside track when rejoining the board of directors as Webb Simpson’s replacement when board members resisted his return.
“I think there was a subset of people on the board that maybe were uncomfortable with me coming back for some reason,” McIlroy said at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a $20 million flagship event is being played. Dollars.
Simpson had offered to resign, but only if McIlroy replaced him. When a player manager resigns, the other players on the board must unanimously agree on a successor. McIlroy resigned from the board of directors in Novemberand the players selected Jordan Spieth to replace him.
The seven players – Woods, Spieth, Simpson, Ogilvie, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati – are on the board of directors of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, the commercial entity that agreed to a deal with Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor.
That agreement included an investment of $1.5 billion, which could rise to $3 billion.
McIlroy was keen to return, believing he could help find a solution to the divisiveness in golf that has left some of the best players on two tours. McIlroy sees reunification in some form as the ultimate goal and upset players when he suggested earlier this year that LIV players return without punishment.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan is governor of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund
“Today’s news is in no way a commentary on Rory’s important perspective and influence,” Monahan said in a statement. ‘It is simply a matter of adherence to our governance process by which a tour player becomes a member of the board of directors.
“Having Webb remain in his position as a member of the PGA Tour Enterprises Board of Directors and Board of Directors through the end of his term provides the continuity needed at this vital time,” he said. “We are moving forward in our negotiations with the PIF.”
McIlroy is certain to remain involved unofficially due to his two-year experience on the board and his voice in the game. He was the only European tour member on the PGA Tour board of directors and McIlroy has cultivated relationships on every continent during his career.
He had said in a British football podcast He met PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan earlier this year at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in late 2022 and returned home and encouraged the tour board to meet with him.
Rory McIlroy will not return to PGA Tour board after ‘old wounds’ reopened in ‘messy’ talks
The framework agreement between the PGA Tour, the European tour and the PIF was announced on June 6, with a deadline to finalize it at the end of 2023. Negotiations continue with little progress.
Woods was among the player managers who went to the Bahamas on March 18 (Monahan and Henry also attended) to meet with Al-Rumayyan.
Woods said at the Masters about that meeting: “I don’t know if we’re any closer, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction.” “It was a very positive meeting and I think both parties came away from the meeting feeling positive.”
Gorder is the president and CEO of Valero, the title sponsor of the Texas Open. He has been named inaugural chairman of the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises.
