Tiger Woods appeared in the preview of The Genesis Invitational before reporters at his first press conference since Hero World Challenge in November. He spoke about everything and, above all, about the negotiations to reach an agreement between PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. It is scheduled for the end of 2023. The agreement has not yet arrived, at the moment, and so far it has been created PGA Tour Enterprises with SSG, the investment group of sports and communications moguls from the United States. He also talked about his physical condition and his big goal this week, to win the tournament.
“Golf is the sport of my life and I will never stop. I still love the competition, the game, being part of the circuit,” a smiling and relaxed Woods said in the press room of Riviera Country Club, just outside of Los Angeles. El Tigre, 48, has not played an official PGA Tour event since the Masters in April 2023. He then underwent ankle surgery after a car accident in 2021. He returned to competition in December with two minors that tournament, and made sure that his body never let him return to his best level.
“My ankle no longer hurts, there is no more friction between certain bones. It affects other parts of my body, which have to adapt,” he added. Woods’ form will be the subject of special monitoring over these four days at the Riviera, where he made his PGA Tour debut years ago but has never won the event sponsored by his foundation. “Neither the irons nor the putter have been great on this course. For some reason, I haven’t had a good week and it’s disappointing in the sense that this is a golf course that always catches my eye. I hope I can manage to be one of the contenders and, why not, get the victory at the end of the week. The goal is a good win. It would be good. I have played here since 1992. I hope to find a way, to get into the fight,” he said. the former world no.
Tiger leaves this Thursday at 9:25 local time (18:25 Spanish peninsular time) with two friends, Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland. Woods has said he wants to play one tournament a month in 2024. That could mean he plays in all four majors for the first time since 2019, the year of his 15th and final Masters Grand Slam.
The California native left other interesting comments about Saudi funding, the negotiations, the return of LIV golfers to the PGA Tour, team golf…
Regarding the negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Tiger said that “we believe that its entry into PGA Tour Enterprises will be positive. We want the PIF to be part of our circuit and part of our product. Financially, it is not necessary. . The money that has come in today (to SSG) is almost the same as what we agreed on in the framework agreement. So, its coming in will exceed those figures. We are confident of improving our product in the short term and long term. Continuously and negotiations are ongoing.I have not personally spoken to anyone from LIV or Yassir Al Rumayyan.
And he detailed the contribution of the SSG fund. “We want to have the history and traditions of our tour, the structure, the accessibility, to have all the intangibles that make the PGA Tour what it is today and what it is. The goal is to make it even better. it. And how do we do it? What do we do? That’s the idea of having a group like SSG. It’s an amazing group in the sports industry. They’re incredible leaders. We need leadership and they have it, as well as incredible brains that generate ideas that can make this circuit better “.
Should there be a path back to the PGA Tour for LIV Golf players? They asked one from Cypress, and it answered: “We are studying all possible models, seeing how it affects the players who stayed and those who left and how to improve our product in the future. There are many ideas and, in the short term long term, we really don’t know. We don’t even know what it’s going to be like long term. Believe me, there are daily, weekly emails and conversations about this.”
And a final ‘judgment’. With less swing speed, bet on quality shots. “What I’m trying to do from a technical standpoint is make sure I can still play well, that I can still hit the golf ball solid. I don’t have the same speed, nor the ability to practice the same amount of time, “But I’m still training to make sure I hit the ball in the middle of the face. That’s the line.”
Source: La Verdad
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