Tiger Woods, PGA Tour directors and LIV Golf backer expected to meet on Monday: What we know

PGA Tour player directors — Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson — have reportedly been “strongly encouraged” to meet with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which backs the LIV Golf League, including PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

Rory McIlroy and Cantlay confirmed the meeting at the Players Championship on Sunday. The meeting will reportedly be held at a private residence near PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

“Fundamentally, he wants to do the right thing,” McIlroy said of Al-Ruamayyan, before taking a shot at his nemesis, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman. “I have spent time with Yasir and his — the people that have represented him in LIV, I think, have done him a disservice, Norman and those guys.

“I actually think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”

“They want to park money for decades and not worry about it. They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sport in some way.”

It’s now known precisely how PIF, the PGA Tour, or its new investor, Strategic Sports Group (SSG), will be represented. Cantlay was purposefully vague about the nature of the meeting, indicating that his side would listen more than negotiate.

“Well, I’ve gotta hear out what they have to say, and I will always do my best to represent the entire membership whenever I am in a meeting in that capacity,” Patrick Cantlay said Sunday at the Players Championship. “I think more information is always better.”

“I’m not sure that I can say much more other than we’re being encouraged to potentially meet with them, but at the same time we probably feel like our membership should know timing and what could happen and just, in general, maybe it’s just a meet,” Spieth said Friday at TPC Sawgrass. “We are being encouraged, obviously, which I think is probably a good thing that the entire board should if there’s going to be any potential for a negotiation.”

Before the Players, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that negotiations with PIF were “accelerating” but a completed agreement was a ways off. The PGA Tour has seen fan enthusiasm dip in 2024 as stars have flocked to LIV or failed to produce compelling results. McIlroy — who resigned from the policy board in 2023 — recently called for expedited negotiations.

“I think [it] should have happened months ago, so I am glad that it’s happening,” McIlroy said about more talks. “Hopefully that progresses conversations and gets us closer to a solution.”

Right on time, the 50th edition of the Players Championship delivered the PGA Tour one of its most exhilarating spectacles in years. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler battled through a neck injury to shoot a final-round 64, becoming the first repeat winner in the history of the hallowed event, and the first back-to-back winner on the PGA Tour in 2024. Scheffler finished one stroke ahead of Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, and Xander Schauffele — all top players who produced high-level golf.

Meanwhile, LIV Golf has started its third season relatively quietly (depending on your Anthony Kim mileage) though it hopes an event in Miami the week before the Masters (Apr. 11-14) will gin up stateside interest. At the moment, Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann look like the second- and third-best players in golf — setting up a potentially tantalizing showdown at Augusta National.