PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Tiger Woods hosted the meeting with the head of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia at his residence in the Bahamas on Monday that was a viewed as a “meet and greet and learn” session to potential future investment in PGA Tour Enterprises.
Webb Simpson, one of the six player directors on the PGA Tour Policy Board, said Woods “was very engaged” and that “outside of our meeting he’s been super engaged along the way. He’s a great leader and I really think he’s taken the position of our leader and we rely on him a lot.”
Simpson, who is playing in this week’s Valspar Championship, said in an interview Wednesday at the Innisbrook Resort that the meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, which backs the LIV Golf League, “was the next right thing to do. I don’t know what exactly it’s going to look like in a year or two or three or five. It felt like it was the next right thing.”
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Woods and Al-Rumayyan played golf on the Albany course near Nassau where Woods hosts the annual Hero World Challenge.
The meeting included all six player directors. In addition to Woods and Simpson, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay were also there, along with newly-appointed board liaison Joe Ogilvie.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also attended along with a few members of the Strategic Sports Group.
Details from what occurred at the meeting have been vague but it appears the sides are no closer to any kind of agreement than they were nine months ago when the June 6 “framework agreement” was announced.
Monahan sent a memo to PGA Tour players Monday following the meeting, which was meant to have Al-Rumayyan meet players for the first time and explain his thinking about potential PIF investment in PGA Tour Enterprises, the new for-profit entity that was established earlier this year with SSG’s investment, which could be up to $3 billion.
“What I was interested in going there was to learn more about who he is and what he’s thinking,” Simpson said. “Learn about LIV more. What was your intention and hope there? How’s it going? All that kind of stuff. A meet and greet and learn. I think he wanted to learn from us kind of what we think. We wanted to figure out what he thinks.”
According to Simpson, the meeting did not involve “in the weeds” negotiating but more of a big picture of the PIF’s intentions. The sovereign wealth fund is invested in hundreds of companies around the world with a worth in excess of $700 billion. It has invested heavily in sports, including the Premier League, tennis, Formula One racing and golf.
“If definitely seems like he envisions a place in the game of golf,” Simpson said. “We didn’t get as far as what he wants and what does LIV want. He certainly seems engaged enough in the game already that he has desires to see the game grow globally, I think it’s fair to say. And he mentioned growing it in Saudi to try and do that.”
Malnati, who is also playing in this week’s Valspar Championship, declined to go into specifics. In a brief interview, the veteran PGA Tour player said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the conversational nature of Al-Rumayyan, who has often been described as an avid golfer who frequently competes in pro-ams at LIV Golf League tournaments.
“Obviously he is not a regular guy,” Malnati said. “He chairs 140-something boards. But to talk to him, it was like talking to another human being. I enjoyed and appreciated that. We were definitely talking to a golf nut.”
Malnati reiterated his desire to see “all the best players together, not just in the major championships.
“I still certainly think a path forward for professional golf makes more sense with him on our side than him as an antagonist,” Malnati said. “But there’s a lot of work to do to ... seeing the same vision for the future of professional golf. There is space between his and ours.”
Monahan and Al-Rumayyan shockingly appeared together last June on CNBC to announce what had been a secretly negotiated agreement that laid out a path for the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund to come together.
But while Monahan said last week at the Players Championship that negotiations have “accelerated,” there have been no details to emerge on where the sides stand on various issues and what would be required to bring it all together.
LIV Golf launched with an eight-tournament schedule in 2022, signing the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka to lucrative guaranteed contracts. It later signed that year’s British Open champion, Cam Smith.
LIV is in its third year and added a 13th team with the signing of Masters champion Jon Rahm last December.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour sought the outside private equity from SSG, and among its investors at the meeting was John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool soccer team in the Premier League.
As a response to LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has instituted a series of $20 million signature events that see the winner make $4 million—similar to what LIV offers in its 14-tournament schedule.
Two weeks ago, Simpson said during an interview that he believed not doing a deal with the PIF was dangerous.
“The basis for my opinion is really and solely concerned with the poaching (of PGA Tour players),” Simpson said Wednesday. “We have amazing players on the PGA Tour. As long as there is a potential opportunity for our players to play on a different tour, I have been a little nervous about what is going to happen with the PIF.
“Ultimately, I want us all to play together more than just the majors. It doesn’t have to be just the PGA Tour. That’s why we all love sports. Best teams in the Super Bowl. Best teams in NBA Finals.
“I do think it’s a while until we get there. I didn’t walk away with a much clearer understanding of what the future holds. But I definitely walked away thinking I’m glad we did that. Glad we met him. Glad we had a very friendly meeting. It was never tense. It was a long day but a good day.”
