ORLANDO, Fla. – Jon Rahm’s defection to LIV Golf last week certainly wasn’t a surprise to Tiger Woods. It also wasn’t a surprise to anyone who’d been paying attention to social media, but that didn’t ease the blow for the15-time major champion.
“There’s been a lot of talk over the years of certain players going [LIV Golf], and it was speculation until it happened because there’s been rumors of names going and not going, and whether they materialized or not,” Woods said Saturday following a soggy round at the PNC Championship. “We assumed it was just speculation until it happened.”
As a member of the Tour’s policy board, Woods is more in the loop than most but he was forced to digest the news last Thursday that the circuit had lost the world’s third-ranked player and the reigning Masters champion. Specifically, Woods and the other members of the policy board had to account for Rahm’s jump to the breakaway league and how it could impact the circuit’s ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which owns 93% of LIV Golf according to court records.
“It’s been certainly a topic of conversation,” he said. “We’re trying to get a deal done with all of the different entities that we have going on here. SSG has come into the mix now. But we still have until the 31st.”
Last Sunday the policy board informed its members in a memo that it had narrowed its negotiations with private equity to Strategic Sports Group (SSG), an investment group led by Fenway Sports Group. Negotiations with SSG have reached what one source called advanced stages.
SSG is a consortium of U.S.-based professional sports team investors and include Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons and co-founder of The Home Depot, and John Henry, the principal owner of Liverpool Football Club and the Boston Red Sox.
“[SSG] obviously have a lot of equity and a lot of name investors that have the same alignment that we have, and we are all heading in the right direction,” Woods said from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, where he’s tied for 11th with his son, Charlie, after an opening 64.
The memo sent to Tour players last Sunday also said the circuit “anticipates advancing our negotiations with PIF in the weeks to come.”
The “31st” is the deadline set out in the framework agreement between the Tour and PIF to reach a definitive agreement. Woods reiterated his belief that the Dec. 31 mark will be met.
“As of right now, that is our time frame and our deadline. That was set forth back in early June, and that hasn’t changed,” Woods said.
However, other sources say that deadline is flexible and can be adjusted if all sides feel there is progress in the negotiations.
The framework agreement that was announced on June 6 allows for a termination of the deal on Dec. 31, “if parties fail to enter into the definitive agreements by such date unless extended by mutual consent of the parties.”