Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Tiger Woods joins LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger talks

By Gavin Gibbon
Tiger Woods is on the PGA Tour Policy Board “transaction subcommittee” whose job it is to broker a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Darren Lee/Cal Sport Media/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Tiger Woods is on the PGA Tour policy board 'transaction subcommittee' whose job it is to broker a deal with PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund
  • Negotiations to try to unite golf
  • New York meeting with PIF
  • Talks expected to last ‘multiple days’

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reported to be due to meet Tiger Woods and officials from the PGA Tour this week in New York as negotiations continue to bring the fractured sport of golf together under one umbrella.

The PIF-sponsored LIV Golf series, which this month completes its third season, turned the sport on its head.

The rebel competition, based on 54-hole events instead of the traditional 72-hole format, with no cuts, lured many of the game’s greatest players with a reduced calendar of events, a team format and huge prize pots.

Person, Electronics, Mobile Phone

Newsletter
Get the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week

The first LIV Golf event boasted $25 million in prize money. The American golfer Dustin Johnson, the former world number one, claimed the inaugural tour championship title in 2022, pocketing prize money of $18 million.

After a bitter row and threats of legal action from both sides, a peace deal was brokered in June last year between the PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour. 

As part of this, PIF reportedly promised to invest $1 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit company established after the tour received a $3 billion dollar investment from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of American sports team owners and investors led by Fenway Sports Group.

It promised to find an agreement by the end of 2023, although that deadline passed without a resolution.

Woods is part of a PGA Tour policy board “transaction subcommittee” whose job it is to broker a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Talks started on Tuesday this week, according to a report by ESPN, and were expected to last “multiple days”.

Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, who is also part of the board, said last month: “You look at where we are right now, we’re in regular dialogue, we have the right people at the table with the right mindset.

“I see that in all these conversations on both sides, that creates optimism about the future and our ability to come together. At the same time, these conversations are complex, they’re going to take time.”

PIF, LIV Golf and Tiger Woods have been approached for comment.

Latest articles

Gulf airlines, Gulf airlines conflict, Gulf conflict risk, Gulf flights cancelled rerouted

Conflict risk leads Gulf airlines to cancel regional routes

Gulf airlines are among airlines that have cancelled and rerouted flights across the Middle East as the conflict between Iran and Israel escalates. They are avoiding Iranian airspace and many have cancelled routes entirely following a major missile attack by Iran against Israel on Tuesday. Immediately after the attacks about 80 flights operated by carriers […]

Taaleem's schools offer 'exclusive educational experiences' including access to high-tech equipment profits

Dubai school operator Taaleem increases profit by 55%

Dubai school operator Taaleem has reported revenue of AED945.2 million ($257.3 million) for its 2023-24 financial year – a 15.5 percent year-on-year increase. More student enrolments and the opening of new schools helped Taaleem to increase net profit before tax by 55 percent, to AED182 million, in the financial year ending August. Taaleem’s shares were […]

Shein IPO

Mubadala-backed Shein courts investors before London IPO

Chinese fashion retailer Shein, which is backed by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, is courting European investors before an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Shein is due to hold informal meetings to answer questions and test the investment appetite of major investors in the coming weeks, before its planned IPO […]

Workers stand on a scaffold in Dubai. Building a high rise in the UAE can be as much as two thirds cheaper than in other major cities

Apartments in UAE among cheapest to build in the world

Building a standard residential high-rise in Dubai or Abu Dhabi is up to two-thirds cheaper than in other major global cities, thanks to land, labour and raw materials all costing much less. Land is up to three times cheaper in the UAE compared with the prices paid in New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore […]