Tiger Woods says talks continue for a path back to the PGA Tour for LIV players

As Tiger Woods prepares for his first event of 2024 in California he opened up on his part in the ongoing golf war and the prospect of LIV players returning to the PGA Tour.

Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP (

A plan for possibly welcoming back LIV defectors including Australian star Cameron Smith to the PGA Tour “in the longer term” remains unclear according to Tiger Woods who is a key part of talks as a member of the tour’s policy board.

Woods, who returns to play at this week’s $30m Genesis Invitational also confirmed he’d had no conversations with Saudi Public Investment Fund boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan but was still hopeful of a cash injection from the LIV backers and that they are “part of our tour” as negotiations over the proposed deal continue to lag.

Last week world No.1 Scottie Scheffler suggested the should be some sort of penalty player for anyone who went to LIV should they want to re-join the PGA Tour if and when the framework agreement with the PIF, which was firs raised last June, comes together.

Tiger Woods speaks with the media prior to The Genesis Invitational . Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP (

Woods, who joined the policy board to have a stronger say in the tour’s future, said there wasn’t as yet a clear way for that to happen.

“We’re looking into all the different models for pathways back,” he said as he prepared for his first tournament of 2024 in California.

“What that looks like, what the impact is for the players who have stayed and who have not left and how we make our product better going forward, there is no answer to that right now.

“We’re looking at a very different -- varying degrees of ideas and what that looks like in the short term, we don’t know. We don’t even know in the longer term what that looks like.

“Trust me, there’s daily, weekly emails and talks about this and what this looks like for our tour going forward.”

Woods said team golf, a key plank of the LIV tour, would be part of the future PGA Tour, beyond his TGL stadium golf league, which had its start delayed when their venue in Florida was badly damaged.

Tiger Woods and his caddie Lance Bennett walks the ninth hole d at Riviera Country Club . (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

He said the $4.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group would be pivotal in any such advancements

“How team golf is, it’s going to be a part of the tour. It is part of the Tour, we had TGL. What that looks like as far as official event goes, we don’t know what that looks like yet as of now,” he said.

“Whether or not we can transform that or -- put that together with official open events, that’s one of the reasons we have SSG to be a part of what that can possibly look like or how does that even look like or how does that even look like with our PIF negotiations as well.”

Woods was confident there would be a deal with the PIF.

“The PIF deal obviously is ongoing. SSG, we have solidified our agreement with them and PIF is still ongoing and we’re still negotiating,” he said.

“Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product.”

Woods, who has never won at Riviera Country Club, said “a nice W” was his aim this week, despite it being his first Tour event since having his ankle fused after last year’s Masters.

Originally published as Tiger Woods says talks continue for a path back to the PGA Tour for LIV players