Tiger Woods is one of the PGA Tour players thought to be leading the organization's Policy Board as it wrestles with negotiating some kind of deal with LIV Golf's owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir Al Rumayyan.
Woods was appointed to the board last summer at the behest of players in a letter to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, and he has been thought to be leading from the players' side with Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth, who replaced Rory McIlroy on the board.
While McIlroy was recently denied an opportunity to return to the board, in part by Woods, the Ulsterman was added to a created Transaction Subcommittee that will directly negotiate with the Saudis. Woods was asked about the nature of those talks, which have been slow to start and do not seem to have accelerated much since the Policy Board members met with Al Rumayyan in the Bahamas after The Players Championship in March.
"I think we're working on negotiations with PIF. It's ongoing; it's fluid; it changes day-to-day," Woods said. "Has there been progress? Yes."
What is deemed progress, though, depends on the prism of who's speaking. McIlroy has been vocal that he thinks not enough progress has been made in the 11-plus months since the PGA Tour-DP World Tour-PIF Framework Agreement was unveiled. Woods has been directly involved for nine of those months, and McIlroy has been off the board for six months. Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects of that Framework Agreement, stepped down from the Board this week, calling his role "superfluous" after seeing a lack of progress toward a final deal.
Woods seemed to advocate for a "The Tortorise and the Hare" approach: slow and steady wins the race.
"But it's an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process," Woods said, "and so we're making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we're making steps."
