Tiger Woods “continues to be a central figure” in the PGA Tour-Saudi Public Investment Fund framework deal story as one of six players on the 11-member PGA Tour Policy Board, which is “working to reshape not just the tour but the landscape of professional golf,” according to Ron Green Jr. of GLOBAL GOLF POST. Woods said he “made an impact on the PGA Tour for a number of years hitting a golf ball and doing that.” He added, “I can have, I think, a lasting impact by doing what I’m doing, by being on the board and being a part of the future of the PGA Tour.” It is yet another chapter in Woods’ remarkable career, “taking a leadership role and lending his powerful voice to the negotiations that continue with the PIF and within the tour structure itself.” Having redefined the tour with his play over two decades, Woods is “now heavily involved in redefining the way it does business.” Woods said both sides are working “aggressively” on getting the deal done, but he “did not offer any specifics” (GLOBAL GOLF POST, 11/29).
EYE OF THE TIGER: GOLF’s James Colgan noted Woods’ remarks during a press conference yesterday was the “first time we’ve heard from him since taking on his new job as the player voice of the PGA Tour,” which made the presser Woods’ “de facto job interview for the golf world.” When he arrived at the lectern for his “opening salvo” from the Hero World Challenge, it was “telling that his focus appeared to be on his new gig.” For the “first time in at least a decade, the most interesting thing” about Woods was “not his golf game nor his return to major championship contention, but rather his newly-anointed position.” Colgan asked, “Is Tiger ready for the role of Tour spokesman?” Colgan: “He is not just an obvious choice for this role, he is arguably the only choice.” But this is a “different kind of job” for Woods, based “not on his ability with a club in his hands nor a Nike swoosh on his chest but rather on his capacity to persuade and assuage; to hear and be heard.” This job places Woods “in an obvious golf leadership role for only the second time in his career (the 2019 Presidents Cup being the first),” and will see him “steer the players into the sport’s future, perhaps through a long-term agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.” In his role, Woods will “ensure that is the case, wielding oversight into every Tour decision.” Colgan: “The work will consume him, but he seems to know that, having seen it consume his good friend and predecessor, Rory McIlroy, from up close.” Additionally, on the topic of the merger, Woods “defended players with a mix of candor and cantankerousness” (GOLF, 11/28).
