Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were joined by 21 members of the PGA Tour in their crunch meeting last week to discuss the threat of LIV Golf. Ahead of last week's BMW Championship, reports state a three-and-a-half-hour long conversation took place in an off-course hotel in Delaware.
ESPN claims the discussion was said to be 'good', as they planned a fightback against the Saudi-backed LIV Golf threat. The list of players, leaked by No Laying Up, includes 20 of the world top 30-ranked players and 10 Major champions.
The likes of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, who defended his BMW Championship title last week, and 2021 British Open champion Collin Morikawa all reportedly turned up at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington.
The list also includes Adam Scott and Joaquin Niemann who had been strongly linked to a switch to LIV Golf. The same could be said of PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young, who finished second at the 150th Open last month. The full list of attendees was: Woods, McIlroy, Scheffler, Cantlay, Rahm, Thomas, Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Viktor Hovland, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Tyrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner, Adam Scott, and Rickie Fowler.
All the players present were in agreement with the plan proposed to secure the tour’s future in the battle against LIV. Among the suggestions reportedly discussed to fight back against LIV Golf's threat was the possibility of 18 no-cut tournaments, involving 60 players, and crucially the scope to compete for $20million (£16m) purses.
However, some players were absent in a potential cause for concern for the PGA, with rumours seven more players could defect to the Saudi-funded breakaway. The most noticeable absentee was Cameron Smith, the winner of The Open this year, with the Australian reportedly set to officially be unveiled alongside a host of other big names by Greg Norman's organisation.
Smith had pulled out of the BMW Championship the day before the meeting due to a hip problem and his absence could be due to the fact he was no longer competing. The 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyma was also absent amid reports he is set to be offered a lucrative deal. Should he make the switch, he would likely bring a myriad of fans from his native Japan with him and higher viewership numbers for LIV in the process.
"Hideki is the huge domino to fall. Hearing an Aussie team is essentially a done deal. But Hideki would bring a whole, massive, golf-crazed nation under the LIV fold,” golf journalist Dan Rapaport tweeted. “They’d get a TV deal, sponsorships, team owner in Japan no problem. Which is why they’re offering him the BAG.”
It's also emerged that Woods and McIlroy proposed a series of one-day events that will be staged before a live audience in a non-green grass stadium environment which will showcase cutting-edge technology, too, according to Golfweek. The events will be hosted by the PGA Tour and will be integrated into their schedule to complement other tournaments rather than conflict. They will reportedly launch in 2024, running from January through to March with a finale scheduled for later in the season.
