Tiger Woods is reportedly playing golf and holding a meeting with Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan at Albany in the Bahamas.
Tiger Woods has jetted into the Bahamas for a meeting between with Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
According to Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapaport, Woods is playing golf alongside PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan at Albany in the Bahamas.
Rapaport tweeted: “Hearing that Tiger Woods and Yasir Al-Rumayyan will play golf/have already played to discuss the future of pro golf in the Bahamas. Love that the biggest meetings to discuss the future of golf take place…on the golf course.”
Woods’ plane was tracked in capital Nassau, and that was then followed by another plane registered to the PIF and also John Henry, one of the members of the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) that recently invested $3 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises.
This was highlighted by radaratlas2 on X.
Albany is where Woods hosts his annual charity event, the Hero World Challenge.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said talks were “accelerating” between themselves and PIF ahead of The Players Championship last week.
Woods, 48, was recently named as the vice chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises.
Under the terms of the PGA Tour and PIF’s ongoing framework agreement, the PIF could become a minority invester in PGA Tour Enterprises, which had been the plan since the shock 6 June 2023 announcement.
Woods is one of six player directors on the PGA Tour policy board, which also includes Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati.
Rory McIlroy stepped down from his role as a player director on the PGA Tour this season, but he explained 15-time major champion Woods needed to be in Monday’s meeting if talks with PIF are ever going to progress.
McIlroy also fired shots at LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman when saying he thought he had done Al-Rumayyan a ‘disservice’.
Cantlay revealed on Sunday that shock merger talks between the PGA Tour and PIF are still nowhere near completion ahead of Monday’s latest meeting.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated ahead of Monday’s latest meeting between PIF and PGA Tour player directors, Cantlay said:
PopStroke will feature two 18-hole miniature golf courses, a restaurant and beer garden, and a playground, the company’s officials said.
THE COLONY, Texas — A mini-golf course co-owned by Tiger Woods is set to open in The Colony’s Grandscape development on March 28.
PopStroke, located at 5770 Grandscape Blvd, will feature two 18-hole mini-golf courses, a restaurant and beer garden, and a playground, according to company officials.
The outdoor venue will officially open at noon on March 28 and then be open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.
The North Texas location will be the 12th for PopStroke, which has partnered with the golf legend Woods on the venture. In addition to putt-putt, food and drinks, the location will also feature an ice cream parlor and additional outdoor games such as ping pong, foosball and corn hole.
PopStroke’s first Texas location was in Katy, near Houston. Most of PopStroke’s other locations are in Florida, although the company also has courses in Alabama, South Carolina and Arizona.
The company is owned by Greg Bartoli, Woods’ TGR Ventures, and the golf equipment and apparel company TaylorMade.
“The rapid growth of the Dallas metropolitan area coupled with its deep-rooted connection to golf made The Colony a perfect destination for our expansion into Texas,” Bartoli said in a press release from the company Monday. “We can’t wait to welcome new guests to PopStroke and bring together people of all ages and skill levels through an unforgettable golf entertainment experience in the vibrant Dallas-Fort Worth area.”
PopStroke is just the latest opening in the Grandscape complex, which is located off Sam Rayburn Tollway and Plano Parkway in The Colony.
A surfing venue and restaurant called Fireside Surf also recently opened at Grandscape, which is anchored by a Nebraska Furniture Mart and a Scheels sporting goods store. Grandscape is also home to Portillo’s, a Chicago-based Italian beef restaurant chain.
Notably, PopStroke isn’t the first mini-golf course located at The Colony — let alone the first owned by a star pro golfer. The Rory McIlroy-backed venture The Puttery opened in the complex in 2021.
Unlike the McIlroy venture, however, the Woods-supported one is mostly an outside play.
Tiger Woods will help continue discussions between the PGA Tour and Saudi chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan after Rory McIlroy said he had to be involved.
Rory McIlroy got his wish after insisting that Tiger Woods must be involved in talks with Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Woods will speak with Al-Rumayyan about a possible merger between the PGA Tour and the PIF while playing golf in the Bahamas on Monday.
Since high-profile golfers began to leave the PGA Tour for the breakaway LIV Golf League in the summer of 2022, there have been doubts over the direction golf will be heading in the future. In an attempt to stop more golfers joining LIV, European players were stopped from competing in the Ryder Cup if they joined the Saudi-backed league.
Golfers competing in LIV are also unable to earn OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) points, which is crucial for those looking to play at the four major competitions each year. But with golfers still opting to leave for LIV, PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan conceded defeat after stating that striking a deal with the Saudi PIF is “the best outcome” for the sport.
Talks were underway last year, with a deadline set for the end of 2023. The deadline passed with no agreement reached, and to make matters worse Masters champion Jon Rahm then signed for LIV Golf on a record contract.
McIlroy, who’s been very anti-LIV since the start then softened his stance on the new league after seeing Rahm sign his reported £450million contract. Rahm initially spoke out against LIV, but then backtracked as he received the statement offer from the PIF.
The PGA Tour is now focused on ending golf’s civil war as soon as possible, with McIlroy backing swift talks at The Players Championship. Speaking after his final round at Sawgrass, McIlroy said: “I think it should have happened months ago, so I am glad that it’s happening. Hopefully that progresses conversations and gets us closer to a solution.
“I have spent time with Yasir. The people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, (LIV boss Greg) Norman and those guys. fundamentally he wants to do the right thing.
“Look, they’re a sovereign wealth fund. 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.”
McIlroy then declared that it made sense for Woods to be involved as a PGA Tour board member, and also as an instrumental figure in the sport. “He’s a player director. He’s on the board, so absolutely he needs to be involved,” McIlroy added.
Jack Milko Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
All day Sunday, Scottie Scheffler had that killer instinct in him.
Scheffler was a man on a mission, someone who wanted to win for the second straight week and, in this case, for the second straight year at The Players.
He also looked like Tiger Woods in his prime. He chased down another trophy with a disciplined, yet systematic style of play while others behind him caved under pressure.
“Anytime you can be compared to Tiger, I think, is really special, but the guy stands alone in our game,” Scheffler said after his victory at TPC Sawgrass. “He really does.”
Sunday evening was not the first time the 2022 Masters champion received a comparison to Woods.
“I’m not going to remember the exact numbers, but, we’re playing at Riviera this year, and I hit my tee ball, and this guy yells out, ‘Congrats on being number one Scottie. Eleven more years to go,’” Scheffler reminisced.
“This is my eighth tournament win now out here. I’ve tied him in Players Championships. Outside of that, I’ve got 14 more majors and 70-some PGA TOUR events to catch up. So I think I’m going to stick to my routine and continue to plot along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can.”
The reference to “11 more years” relates to Scheffler’s ascendance to the top-ranked player in the world. He has held that esteemed position for 74 weeks thus far in his career, which equates to roughly 18 months.
Woods, meanwhile, was ranked number one in the world for 683 weeks, or about 13 years and one month.
So, in reality, Scheffler will need to hold that top-ranked spot for a little less than 11 years.
But as Scheffler pointed out himself, he has a long way to go to come close to— let alone match— Woods’ resume.
Still, the comparisons between Woods and Scheffler certainly carry some weight.
Scottie Scheffler vs. Tiger Woods By The Numbers
The strokes gained metrics speak for themselves.
During the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, Scheffler averaged 2.614 strokes gained tee-to-green, which ranked second all-time behind Woods’ 2006 season (2.982).
(Worth noting: strokes gained began in 2003, or else Woods’ 2000 season would rank even higher than his 2006 campaign.)
This year, of the 22 rounds Scheffler has played on the PGA Tour, he has averaged 2.83 strokes gained tee-to-green.
He has been better so far this year, which is quite the compliment, considering how well he played a season ago.
Consider this: in 2023, Scheffler played in 23 events on the PGA Tour. He finished in the top five 13 times, including a tie for second at the PGA Championship and a solo third at the U.S. Open.
If he is not winning, he is right there, as was the case with Woods so many times. Scheffler also never came close to missing the cut a season ago, similar to Woods at the peak of his powers.
The same can be said about this season.
Scheffler’s worst performance so far in 2024 came at The American Express—an absolute birdie barrage played across three courses. That event saw an amateur win for the first time since 1991, while Scheffler finished at 21-under and tied for 17th.
Since then, Scheffler tied for 6th at Pebble Beach, finished three strokes out of a playoff in Phoenix, tied for 10th at Riviera, and then won back-to-back at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and TPC Sawgrass.
Sounds pretty Tiger-esque, right?
But the comparisons do not stop there.
Scheffler remained composed all throughout Sunday’s final round at The Players, hitting fairways and greens while avoiding the trouble that lurked everywhere. He missed only two fairways—at the first and the seventh holes—and saved par on both.
He did not make a single bogey, either, while Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, and Brian Harman—the trio who finished one stroke behind him—combined to make six.
That ultimately cost those players a chance at glory at TPC Sawgrass. But it did not cost Scheffler.
He simply does not make mistakes, and the stats prove it.
So far this season, Scheffler ranks first on the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance, dropping a shot only 7.61% of the time. In 2006, Woods’s bogey avoidance rate was 12.18%.
Instead of making mistakes, Scheffler fires at flagsticks when a green light presents itself. Just as Woods did in his prime. Seemingly every round, the former Texas Longhorn sets himself up beautifully for multiple opportunities.
Despite his putter woes, Scheffler still has made a birdie or better on 31.48% of the holes he has played in 2024. That ranks first on the PGA Tour. Clark ranks second, almost two whole percentage points behind Scheffler.
In 2006, Woods’ birdie or better percentage was 27.14%, which ranked first on tour.
Scheffler Flexes Clutch Gene, as did Woods
But another statistical comparison between Woods and Scheffler has to do with their clutch genes.
In 2006, Woods had a final-round scoring average of 68.75. He won seven times, including The Open and the PGA Championship back-to-back. What makes this even more impressive is that these two majors came on the heels of his missed cut at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. That week, Woods was in a sorrowful state. His father and mentor, Earl, passed away a few weeks before.
So far this season, Scheffler has a final-round scoring average of 66.43, highlighted by his exquisite 8-under 64 on Sunday at TPC Sawgrass.
He routinely shows up when it matters most, and he has done so on consecutive Sundays. Last week, the final round scoring average at Bay Hill was 73.14—the highest of any of the four rounds.
So, Scheffler, with a bevy of other players in contention, carded one of the best rounds of the year. He shot a 6-under 66 in windy conditions to win by five.
Talk about clutch.
Funny enough, Scheffler changed to a mallet putter in the days leading up to Bay Hill. He is now two for two with his new putter, something that should petrify the rest of the tour.
Perhaps he makes it three for three at the Texas Children’s Open in Houston, where he will play next.
After that? The best players in the world—including those on LIV Golf—will head to Augusta National for The Masters. Everyone—including those on the Saudi-backed circuit—will have their sights set on Scheffler, who will have a better chance than anyone to slip on the green jacket.
Indeed, it would not surprise anyone if he went on to win at Augusta.
But should we be surprised that Scheffler is playing this well?
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler is next in line for comparisons with Tiger Woods because golf, like other sports, is always looking for the heir to the throne.
Scheffler is playing great golf, measured as much by his elite ball-striking and alarming consistency as the results. He now has nine victories against the strongest fields — one of them a small field in the Bahamas — in the 25 months since he won his first PGA Tour title.
Equally impressive is his 65% rate of finishing in the top 10.
The next Woods?
“I think that’s a funny question,” Scheffler said Sunday evening after his record-tying final round made him the first back-to-back winner of The Players Championship.
He found out the answer a month earlier at Riviera during the Genesis Invitational.
“I’m not going to remember the exact numbers, but we’re playing at Riv this year and I hit my tee ball, and this guy yells out, ‘Congrats on being No. 1, Scottie — 11 more years to go!’” he said.
And then Scheffler repeated the number to let it sink in for anyone listen.
“Eleven more years to go.”
Scheffler reached No. 1 in the world for the fourth time after his runner-up finish in the PGA Championship last May, and he has been there ever since, challenged a few times by either Jon Rahm or Rory McIlroy.
And now with his second straight win — a five-shot victory at Bay Hill, a five-shot comeback at the TPC Sawgrass — his lead at the top of the ranking is the largest since Dustin Johnson in May 2017. Johnson stayed No. 1 for 64 consecutive weeks, the longest in the post-Woods era. Scheffler is currently at 43 weeks. His total time has been 78 weeks.
Woods holds the record at 281 consecutive weeks, breaking his previous mark of 264 consecutive weeks. His total time at No. 1 was slightly more than 13 years.
Scheffler was off by two years. No need to quibble.
“Anytime you can be compared to Tiger I think is really special,” Scheffler said. “But I mean, the guy stands alone I think in our game. He really does.”
Scheffler has tied Woods with the most Players Championship titles — two.
“Outside of that, I’ve got 14 more majors and 70-some PGA Tour events to catch up,” he said. “So I think I’m going to stick to my routine and just continue to plod along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can.”
It’s easy to overlook Johnson, partly because he is with LIV Golf and is seen against a full roster of great players only at the four majors, and partly because it has been seven years since he was at his most dominant. He won three straight tournaments — Riviera and two World Golf Championships — and was the overwhelming favorite at the Masters until slipping down the stairs the day before the first round and having to withdraw.
Before him was McIlroy, who won seven times from May 2014 through May 2015, including consecutive majors. And then he injured his knee playing soccer, missing the British Open at St. Andrews, and lost the No. 1 ranking to Jordan Spieth.
Scheffler offered a small reminder about looking too far into the future. He felt something in his neck on the second hole of his second round, and the pain was such that it hurt to take the club too far back. He needed treatment after the 13th, 14th and 15th holes. He had reason to withdraw except that he was playing well — he was tied when he felt the pain — and his competitiveness kept him from stopping.
So he got through Friday with a 69, and then relied more on his hands for a game he described as “kind of slapping it around.” He birdied the last three holes Saturday for a 68 to stay in the game, five shots behind.
And then he felt better on Sunday and delivered a masterpiece — a hole-out from 92 yards for eagle on No. 4, four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn and a 64 to match the Players Championship record for lowest Sunday score by a winner.
And no one was terribly surprised, the ultimate compliment.
Statistically, he led the field from tee-to-green, just like he seems to do whenever and wherever he plays. It wasn’t his best week with the irons — remember the “slapping it around” from Saturday — and he a little better than middle of the pack in putting.
It’s been that way for some time. His consistently great play first came into focus at the start of 2023 when it took until July at the British Open for his first result worse than a tie for 12th. And it hasn’t really stopped.
The best since Woods in his prime? Scheffler gets closer the larger his sample size gets. The real measure is when expectations get too high for anyone but Woods to match. It’s getting close. Still to be determined is whether it gets to him, which sounds unlikely.
“I try not to place too much emphasis on results, good or bad,” Scheffler said. “I show up to try and perform my best and hopefully win tournaments. But when I stand on the tee on Thursday, I’m not thinking about the trophy ceremony at the end of the week. I’m just trying to be committed to the shot and just go from there.”
Tiger Woods comparisons generally are a really good thing.
But after Scottie Scheffler joined Woods as one of seven multiple-time Players champions, he was reminded of what could be viewed as a slightly depressing statistic.
The current World No. 1 has been on a tear the past 25 months; Scheffler earned his first PGA Tour win in February 2022 at the WM Phoenix Open and hasn’t slowed down much since.
He won three more times over the next three months that season, including his first major title at the Masters. He won in Scottsdale again in 2023 before taking the Players Championship a month later. Scheffler didn’t win for 52 weeks after that (gasp!), but that didn’t stop him from cementing his place at the top of the sport.
While Scheffler didn’t win an official event between March 2023 and March 2024, he racked up top-10s at a mind-boggling pace. For the entire 2022-23 PGA Tour season, he finished outside the top 12 just three times. His next start, after the Tour Championship, at the unofficial Hero World Challenge? He won.
In the past two weeks, the 27-year-old has returned to his official winning ways, taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational and defending his title at TPC Sawgrass, becoming the first to accomplish the feat.
According to the analytics site, DataGolf, Scheffler’s current peak of +2.82 in the DG Index is the fourth highest of all-time, behind Woods in 2000, Vijay Singh in 2004 and David Duval in 1999. He’s been able to maintain — and elevate — that number despite losing strokes on the green until the last couple of weeks.
But, being compared to Woods ain’t easy, and on Sunday night at TPC Sawgrass Scheffler shared a funny revelation about how far he has to go to draw legitimate comparisons to Woods’ sustained run of dominance.
“I’m not going to remember the exact numbers, but like we’re playing at Riv this year, and I hit my tee ball and this guy yells out, like, ‘Congrats on being No. 1 Scottie. Eleven more years to go,’” Scheffler recalled, cracking up the press room.
“Eleven more years to go,” he repeated for emphasis.
The fan at last month’s Genesis Invitational was referring to Woods’ incredible mark of 683 weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking, more than double the total of the next closest player. Woods was also World No. 1 for two separate streaks of 281 and 264 weeks — again, both more than double the next best.
Scheffler, meanwhile, is working on a run of 44 straight weeks atop of the OWGR for a total of 79 weeks in his career, all of which have come in the last two years. That means to catch Woods, Scheffler needs to hold the world’s top ranking for another 604 weeks, or about 11 years and seven and a half months.
The win he logged Sunday was the eighth of his career, leaving him 76 behind Woods’ record total on the PGA Tour, not to mention Scheffler’s lone major title is 14 fewer than Woods’ mark.
“Anytime you can be compared to Tiger I think is really special, but, I mean, the guy stands alone I think in our game,” Scheffler said. “He really does. This is my eighth tournament win now out here, I’ve tied him in Players Championships. Outside of that, I got 14 more majors and 70-some PGA Tour events to catch up. So I think I’m going to stick to my routine and just continue to plot along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can.
“We all idolize Tiger. He’s been our guy. Watching what he did in special moments over the years is crazy to watch. I’ve learned a lot just from being around him. We’re just very thankful that he’s still a part of our sport.”
There’s as much talk about Woods not playing the Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass as there is about the stars who are here — beginning with defending-champion Scottie Scheffler, who’s fresh off his second Arnold Palmer Invitational victory in the past three years.
Woods was widely expected to be in the field this week. That would follow the natural progression of his stated plan, which was to play one tournament a month, including the major championships.
Woods was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational last month at Riviera with a bout of what he called the flu, being driven off the course in the middle of his second round.
He was well enough to play in the annual prestigious Seminole pro-member nine days ago — paired with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh and striking the ball extremely well, according to a report by Brad Faxon, who was also in the field.
Yet, when the deadline came and went Friday for the Players Championship field, Woods’ name was nowhere to be found.
And we have heard nothing from him one way or another — not that he owes anyone an explanation.
It is, however, unconventional for him to head into next month’s Masters (assuming he’s going to play that, because with Woods you never know) having played less than a round and a half of tournament golf.
Woods last played the Players Championship in 2019, shortly before his historic Masters victory in April of that year. Technically speaking, his eligibility to play in the Players has only one year remaining, 2025, based on his Masters win in ’19 that gave him a five-year exemption.
Woods’ wins at the Players in 2001 and 2013 don’t automatically qualify him into the fields in the future.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was asked Tuesday if there would ever be a “special’’ category that would allow past champions like Woods into the field so he can play whenever he wants.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 19: Tiger Woods tosses a ball on the second hole during the final round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club Grande Lakes on December 19, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
“I think you all know Tiger well enough to know that he wants to earn his way into every competition,’’ Monahan said. “That’s his makeup.’’
Xander Schauffele on Tuesday was asked if he misses having Woods in the field.
“He kind of had a rough go for a little bit with his body and everything, [but] if there’s anyone that’s going to talk about putting their head in the sand and find some way to win another golf tournament, I would imagine it’s going to be him,’’ he said. “So, being his competitor, I pull for him pretty hard. He’s kind of the heartbeat of golf, in my opinion, and any time he tees it up it’s a spectacle.’’
Patrick Cantlay added, “Anytime he plays, we’re all better for it. I know he’s working as hard as he can to be healthy and be able to play, and so I hope we get him out here as soon as possible for as many events as possible.’’
Scheffler — who’s ranked No. 1 in the world, a spot Woods once held for a record number of weeks in his prime — said he can’t wait to see Woods play again.
“I wish I had a crystal ball and I could tell you how many of those [tournaments] we had left,’’ Scheffler said. “He’s definitely the best player I’ve ever seen, and I think he’s the best player we’ve ever had. Anytime you can stand up there and walk alongside him and compete in the same golf tournament as him is really special.
“I’ve had the pleasure of playing with him at the Masters a couple years ago. It was the day he made the 10. He’s just so much different than the rest of us. He’s won so many golf tournaments, and he makes a 10 on No. 12 at Augusta, and he birdies five of the last six holes, and it’s Sunday. I mean, it’s completely meaningless to him; like at that stage in his career, what’s the point?
“And for him just to step up there and completely turn it around … I kid you not, he hit still to this day, three of the best iron shots I’ve ever seen hit coming into those last few holes, and it was just unbelievable to watch. Anytime that we can get him out here competing and playing, I think it’s really special for all of us.’’
That moment, though, will have to wait — likely for another few weeks when the world waits for him to turn up at Augusta.
The PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV Golf continue to throw money around to try to ensure the presence of top players in their events. PGA Tour sponsors are not at all happy with the watered-down fields they are paying for each week.
The television networks are equally unhappy. Other than the four major championships, there’s no Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson, no Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia or Bryson DeChambeau playing in any week-to-week PGA Tour events.
On the flip side, LIV still has no TV contract with a major network. It always will have the fact that it is a blatant example of sportswashing hanging over its head. And it’s tough to take seriously, with its 54-hole tournaments that have no cut and announcers trying to sell the notion of team play.
Seriously? Wake me when the Ryder Cup begins.
So what is the next step for the PGA Tour?
Easy. It needs a new commissioner. This is not meant to be an attack on the current commissioner, Jay Monahan, who is charming and smart and a great salesman. In normal times, he would be a perfectly adequate commissioner. But these haven’t been normal times for several years now.
Monahan was slow to react to the looming threat of LIV. He tried to play the morality card, not understanding most of his players and most golf fans and sponsors could not care less if the Saudi money is blood money as long as the checks cash.
Monahan also attempted to play the money card, starting with the ludicrous “Player Impact Program,” which paid players based on their popularity. The first winner was Tiger Woods, who played in zero tournaments in 2021 but was still the most popular golfer by leaps and bounds. The runner-up was Mickelson, who was so impressed with his $6 million bonus that he was the first important player to jump to LIV.
Throwing good money after bad, the tour upped the PIP bonus pool to $100 million in 2022. Woods, after playing in three official events, won again — and if truth be told, he would keep winning until 2122 if the measurements were taken properly. Mickelson wasn’t in the top 20 that year because he ceased to exist after signing with LIV.
Finally, after Woods and Rory McIlroy had been the tour’s biggest defenders, Monahan went behind their backs and cut a deal with the Saudis, although the details still have not been finalized eight months later.
That should have been the last straw for the tour’s policy board. As one player put it, “Jay’s been playing checkers; the Saudis have been playing chess.”
Firing Monahan because of his mistakes might feel satisfying to some, but it would do nothing to solve golf’s problems. And hiring another businessman, politician or corporate CEO wouldn’t change much, if anything.
The tour must think out of the box — way out of the box — and hire someone who really knows golf, who has been a successful businessman and who has the clout to look the Saudis in the eye across the negotiating table.
Has Woods made mistakes in his personal life? Absolutely. Can he treat people badly? Yes. Is he about as transparent as a concrete wall? Yes.
But is he as bright as the sun on a perfect summer day? You bet. Will he get up to speed on the issues the tour is facing at lightning speed? Yes, that too.
Perhaps as important is his name because even if you know nothing about golf, you know Tiger Woods. There are very few athletes in any sport who transcend the game they play. Woods clearly does.
If you surround him with people who understand how to break down the financials, he will close the best deals possible — and he won’t run for cover at the first sign of trouble. Woods is many things, but one thing he is more than anything is a competitor. He won’t see managing the tour and dealing with all the crises ahead as anything more than another pressure cooker competition.
There’s another reason to put Woods in the commissioner’s office: It will give him something to do away from the golf course. He has made more comebacks than Michael Jordan — by a wide margin — his most remarkable being the one that culminated with his victory at the 2019 Masters.
He was 43 at the time and had gone nearly 11 years without winning a major after winning 14 in his first 12 years on tour. Injuries, the 2009 car crash that led to the revelations about his personal life and the wear-and-tear of age on his golf swing sent his career off course.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 19: Tiger Woods tosses a ball on the second hole during the final round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club Grande Lakes on December 19, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
But because he was still Tiger Woods, he managed to come back again to win one more green jacket. It appeared he would be an occasional factor in majors until he was 50.
And then, three years ago Friday, came the car accident outside Los Angeles that shattered his right leg. According to police, he was going between 84 and 87 mph in a 45-mph zone when he lost control of his car and flipped it and was lucky to survive.
He has played in six official tournaments since then — withdrawing from three of them, including last week in Los Angeles, where he made it through 24 holes.
No one is saying he should stop playing when he feels healthy enough to make it through 72 holes. But it says here both he and golf would be much better off if his focus was trying to fix the game rather than hoping his body will miraculously heal to the point that his presence in a tournament is more than a pretournament sales pitch.
Woods has accomplished things through his ability to play golf that no one — not even Jack Nicklaus — has matched. Those who know the game, including Nicklaus, will tell you Woods was also able to do things on the course no one had done before.
Nothing going forward will change his legacy as a golfer. But Woods could enhance his legacy off the course if he so chooses. His body will never be 25 again. But his mind has plenty left to offer to the game he loves — and to those who love the game.
Being Tiger Woods‘ son bestowed Charlie Woods with popularity. But the privilege had demerits of its own. A lot of social media coverage and sometimes dealing with unruly fans could take a toll on a young golfer. Most importantly, expecting little Woods to follow in his father’s footsteps or repeat such golf history had been a lot to ask for.
Recently, rowdy fans troubled Charlie in a pre-qualifying round at the Palm Beaches. The 15-year-old shot 86 in the 18-hole event in a failed attempt to qualify for the Cognizant Classic. During the qualifying tournament, he was bothered a lot by the intervening crowd. Let’s take a look at what happened at the venue.
Charlie Woods got bothered in a pre-qualifying round
The PGA Tour sent a Getty Images photographer to cover Charlie Woods right from the moment he started playing at Palm Beaches. This could be quite distracting for a teenager like him who was trying to focus. As per reports, a lot of fans gathered at the pre-qualifier. Moreover, it was unlikely to see such a crowd at events like this, and it can be too much to deal with. The caricatures did not stop there; men were hiding behind the bushes to grab a drive and people were going too close to the Woods Jr. due to the fewer ropes in the pre-qualifiers. Spectators were also seen arguing with the official when they were asked to be behind the line.
All these mounted up to a terrifying moment. A fan argued to get a book signed by Tiger Woods’ son. Thus, it is quite understandable that the instances were going overboard for a teenager. Somebody who was focusing on getting into the PGA Tour should not have these kind of diversions.
Tiger Woods has left a legacy behind him. It is natural that if his son makes a career in the same sport the latter will be hyped. Yet, everything should have a limit as far as the game of golf is concerned. The father-son duo was last seen playing at the 2023 PNC Championship, where they landed in a T5 position. As far as the current pre-qualifier week was concerned, the authorities were alerted on the same and assured better security for the next time.
But it’s part and parcel of golf that little Charlie Woods has to bear with all this attention being Tiger Woods’s son. Most specifically, when he’s playing on the PGA Tour, people will try to get all the first-hand information about Woods’ blood.
Paige Spiranac also shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) about letting Woods Jr. focus on his game. She reasoned that the game of golf is tough and that Charlie should be allowed to work on his game without media coverage.
Well, being Tiger Woods’ son or not, for any 15-year-old golfer, it is very tough to cope with these kinds of attention from the media. Thus, if Charlie has to follow in the footsteps of his father, he will have to learn to ignore these distractions. Now, it is to see how he deals with all of that. But definitely, he’ll learn to cope with all that in time.
It was a disheartening start to Tiger Woods‘s 2024 season! The 48-year-old was preparing to play the second round for his official start at the Genesis Invitational when an unwanted enemy stopped him in his tracks and he traveled out of the Riviera Country Club on a golf cart—one thing Woods guaranteed he would never do! As he took back his words about using a cart, will he have to take his words back about competing in one tournament every month too? Well, that would depend on his recovery from influenza.
It has now been three days since Woods went back to his abode. For the last 72 hours, it has remained a mystery as to when Woods will be healthy again and when he will compete in his second event of the season, until now!
When may Tiger Woods be healthy again?
After playing the opening round and getting back to his room, Tiger Woods showed some flu-like symptoms. His long-time friend and TGR manager, Rob McNamara, had told the press that the symptoms started on the night of the Thursday round, and on the next day, they were “worse than the night before.”
He had a fever and, during the warm-up, started feeling dizzy. This could be assumed to be day one of influenza, where the body tries to fend off the virus. The next day, Woods would have been kept hydrated via IV, which is needed during the flu recovery. Day three could turn out to be worse than before, according to GoodRx Health.
Woods is probably on the way to recovery, as by the end of day four, the influenza symptoms usually start going away. By days five and six, people can usually resume their normal lifestyle and go back to work. However, for someone like Woods, who has undergone many injuries and is over 45 years old, the virus might stay for another week until he has completely recovered and can play golf again.
The latency of Woods’s recovery can affect his further plans for the 2024 season. If it does take the 15-time major winner 2 weeks to recuperate from the flu, then Woods might miss the next significantly massive event scheduled in March.
Can Tiger Woods play in the Players Championship?
The Hero World Challenge was where the 82-time PGA Tour winner returned after his hiatus. But before teeing it up at Albany GC, Woods had given a slight hint about his 2024 schedule. At the Hero World Challenge presser, the host of the event said, “I think the best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month.”
Woods then explained that, per the schedule, he would probably “start with maybe at Genesis [Invitational]” in February. Then “something in March near The Players.” He fulfilled his promise of playing at Riviera CC, although he could not play the 72 holes. And moving forward, he would have wanted to play at The Players. Woods is qualified to play at the Players because of his 2019 Masters victory.
The PLAYERS will start on March 14, and by that period, Woods may have fully recovered from influenza. It means that his health would not be between him and the PLAYERS Championship. However, last year, the former world no. 1 didn’t opt to play at the event. He was qualified then too, and was comparably healthy. The chances are 50/50; only time will tell what will be his next golf outing!
