Tiger Woods certain PGA tour can live without Saudi investment as golf icon seeks to make one thing clear

Golf superstar Tiger Woods thinks that the PGA Tour doesn't need to make a deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). This could help end the ongoing dispute in golf. The players on the PGA Tour will get more than £1.1billion from an investment deal with Strategic Sports Group (SSG), which is based in the US.

This deal could also lead to a future "co-investment" from the PIF, which funds the separate LIV Golf league. But Woods, like Jordan Spieth, suggests this might not be needed anymore. A first "framework agreement" between the PIF, PGA Tour and DP World Tour was announced on June 6 last year. It had a deadline of December 31, but this was extended.

Woods said at a press conference before the Genesis Invitational, his first tournament of 2024: "Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product," He added: "Financially, we don't right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers. Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above."

When asked about what he thought PIF's ultimate goal was, Woods said: "From what their representatives have discussed with us, yes and no, because that changes and that evolves from a few months ago to what it is currently now. I don't know if it's good or bad, it's an ongoing, fluid process."

Woods, who is one of six PGA Tour player-directors, gave his nod in favour of the deal with SSG. This is a group of US-based investors which includes the owner of Boston Red Sox and Liverpool, John Henry.

"The consortium that they have at SSG, the partners that have come together to be a part of this group is quite remarkable to be honest