Tiger Woods, the only player-interlocutor in the negotiating committee with the Saudis

Tiger Woods will be the sole player-interlocutor in a five-member subcommittee involved in negotiations with Public Investment Fund while the PGA Tour try to come to terms with Saudi sponsors of LIV Golf.

Woods was elected to the PGA Tour Governing Board in August, becoming the sixth player-manager and the only one whose term on the board is unlimited. The tour said Woods will serve on a “transactions subcommittee” on the PGA Tour Enterprises board that will handle day-to-day negotiations as PIF seeks to become a minority investor.

They are also part of the subcommittee Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour; Joe Gorder, chairman of the board of directors; John W. Henry, of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, a former PGA Tour player named in March as liaison director. The subcommittee reports to the full board of directors.

The events ended a day that began with the disappearance of Rory McIlroy of the possibility of returning to the board of directors as Webb Simpson’s replacement, when board members rejected his return. “I think there was a subset of people on the board who maybe felt uncomfortable with me for some reason,” McIlroy said at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the $20 million US PGA pre-tournament is being held dollars in prizes.

Simpson offered to resign, but only if McIlroy replaced him. When a player-manager resigns, the rest of the board must unanimously agree on a successor. McIlroy resigned from the board in November, and the players elected Jordan Spieth to replace him. The seven players – Woods, Spieth, Simpson, Ogilvie, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati – sit on the board of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, the business entity that agreed to a deal with Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor. . That agreement includes an investment of 1.5 billion dollars, which could rise to 3 billion.

McIlroy is eager to return, believing he can help find a solution to the golf divide that has left some of the best players on the two tours. McIlroy sees reunification in some form as the ultimate goal and rubbed players the wrong way when he suggested earlier this year that LIV players return with impunity.

McIlroy will certainly remain involved in an unofficial capacity thanks to his two years of experience on the board and his voice on the tour. He is the only European tour member on the PGA Tour board and has maintained relationships on every continent during his career.

The framework agreement between the PGA Tour, the European tour and the FIP was announced on June 6, with a deadline to close it at the end of 2023. Negotiations continue without much progress. Woods on the Masters: “I don’t know if we’re any closer, but we’re definitely headed in the right direction. It was a very positive meeting, and I think both parties came out of it with a positive feeling.”