Tiger Woods backs PGA Tour-PIF merger, despite 'murky' future - ESPN

NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods said Tuesday that he still has faith in PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, but criticized that players were kept in the dark before the tour reached a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour in June.

Woods, speaking at a news conference at the Hero World Challenge for the first time since the Masters in April, said he was frustrated, like many other PGA Tour members, about not learning about the deal until shortly before it was announced June 6.

«I was frustrated with the fact that the players were never involved,» Woods said. «This is our tour, and we were all taken back by it. It happened so quickly without any of our involvement. No one knew. That can't happen again.»

Woods, an 82-time winner on the PGA Tour, joined the tour's board of directors on Aug. 1 as a sixth player director. The board also includes four independent directors and one director representing the PGA of America. Policy board chairman Ed Herlihy and independent director Jimmy Dunne worked with Monahan behind the scenes to negotiate the framework agreement with the Saudis.

Adding Woods to the board gave players a majority position. Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth are the other player directors. Spieth replaced Rory McIlroy on the board last week.

«I'm sure a lot of the players were taken back by it, by what happened,» Woods said. «So quickly without any input or any information about it, it was just thrown out there. I was very surprised that the process was what it was. We were very frustrated with what happened and we took steps going forward to ensure that we were not going to be left out of the process like we were. So part