Tiger Woods joins secret Bahamas meeting to strike PGA Tour-PIF deal
The governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, met with the PGA Tour policy board in the Caribbean
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Your support makes all the difference.Tiger Woods joined his fellow PGA Tour player directors for a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the Bahamas as negotiations continue over a potential partnership.
The PGA Tour and PIF, which bankrolls breakaway circuit LIV Golf, have been locked in negotiations since June last year, although progress over a finalised deal has stalled in recent months after both parties missed a target of December 31, 2023 to complete a deal.
But negotiations have now taken a forward step after PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan flew to the Bahamas to meet face-to-face with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and the six player-directors on the tour’s board.
Woods joined the policy board in August last year, which is also comprised of fellow major champions Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Webb Simpson as well as Patrick Cantlay and Peter Malnati.
Al-Rumayyan, who is also the chairman of Premier League club Newcastle United, is said to have spoken at length with the six players about the logistics of a potential deal, with tour boss Monahan describing the talks as “constructive”.
“During the session, Yasir had the chance to introduce himself to our Player Directors and talk through the vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf,” Monahan wrote in a letter to players as released by golf journalist Ryan French.
“As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time.”
Monahan, who has faced mounting criticism from several high-profile tour players, has continued to be coy over the specifics of the ongoing negotiations with the PIF. At last week’s Players Championship, the 53-year-old said that talks were accelerating but that “several key issues” surrounding a potential deal remain unresolved.
In January earlier this year, the PGA Tour struck a historic $3bn (£2.4bn) investment deal with Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of American sports team owners, with the hope now to bring PIF in as co-investors.
Despite ongoing talks, PIF has continued to poach some of the tour’s top talent to sign for LIV, most notably defending Masters champion Jon Rahm in December last year.
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