Tiger Woods admitted there was a “long way to go” to complete a peace deal in golf’s civil war and hinted that his part in the process could rule him out of being Ryder Cup captain in 2025.
Negotiations between the PGA Tour, DP World and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which bankrolls LIV Golf – have been ongoing since the shock Framework Agreement between them was announced 11 months ago.
The man who set up the deal, businessman Jimmy Dunne, abruptly resigned from the PGA Tour’s policy board on Monday saying that “no meaningful progress” had been made, while it has been widely reported that Woods was one of the players who vetoed Rory McIlroy’s return to that influential group. “We’re working on negotiations with PIF,” Woods said ahead of the 106th US PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he beat Bob May in a play-off in 2000. “It’s ongoing, it’s fluid, it changes day-to-day.
Has there been progress? Yes. But it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process. “We’re making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.” Asked about McIlroy’s admission that he and Woods do not see eye to eye on the subject, Woods added: “It’s good to see it differently, but collectively as a whole, we want to see whatever’s best for all the players, the fans and the state of golf. “How we get there, that’s to be determined, but the fact that we’re in this together and in this fight together to make golf better is what it’s all about. “We’re trying to make the PGA Tour the best it can be day-in and day-out.