Need to get deal with LIV Golf done the right way, says Tiger Woods

The focus may have been on his fitness and return to competitive golf at Albany on Tuesday, but Hero World Challenge host Tiger Woods also faced a fair share of questions on the still to be finalised merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League.

Though the deal was announced on June 4 with end=December as a possible signing date and a vague set of commitments, no details have as yet emerged, Thereafter, the PGA Tour has dug in its heels in on small details that include first allowing, and then preventing its members from participating in the upcoming LIV Promotions event in Abu Dhabi.

Tiger reiterated on Tuesday that he had been caught off guard by the merger announcement after taking a stand against the Saudi Arabia-led league along with world number two Rory McIlroy, who has since been walking back some of his more explosive outbursts against LIV. 

“I would say that my reaction was surprise,” Tiger was quoted as saying on Tuesday seated alongside event sponsor Dr Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp.. “A lot of the players were taken back by it, what had happened and so quickly without any input or information about it. It was just thrown out there.

“We were very frustrated with what had happened and we took steps going forward to ensure that we were not going to be left out of the process like we were. And so part of that process was putting me on the board.”
The 15-time major winner added that progress on the merger was slower than he would have liked. “I'm pleased with how the process has evolved but frustrated at the speed of some of the governance change. December 31 is coming very quickly and people are working tirelessly to make sure we have the best deal for the entire PGA Tour.”

“One thing, all the parties are talking and we're aggressively working on trying to get a deal done. We're all trying to make sure that the process is better, too, as well. Implementation of governance is one of the main topics -- getting the deal done, but making sure it's done the right way.

“We have multiple options, but still, we would like to have a deal done before December 31. That's what the agreement said in the summer and all parties understand that. But there are other options out there.”
Meanwhile, the prize fund for the Hero World Challenge has been raised from $3.5 million committed since 2014 by a million dollars, and will go up further to $5 million in 2024, Hero MotoCorp executive chairman Pawan Munjal said.

“I'm sure like me all of you and everyone else watching us live here is very excited for this upcoming week. The man on my right (Woods) is making his third comeback to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge. So, thank you for that, Tiger. It obviously elevates the stature of the event and obviously gets so much more interest into it. 

“The second important announcement is I'm happy to announce that the prize purse for the Hero World Challenge in 2023 is being increased to $4.5 million, which in 2024 will go up to $5 million. At Hero we do believe it's very important to keep raising the stature of this event and also keep rewarding the players for their efforts and the time they spend for the game and especially at this event.”

Asked about how his recovery had gone and where his game was since pulling out of the Masters in April, Tiger said, “My game feels rusty, I haven't played in a while. I had my subtalar (an articulation between two of the tarsal bones in the foot, the talus and calcaneus) fused. 

“I'm excited to compete and play and I'm just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven't done it in a while. I can tell you this, I don't have any of the pain that I had at Augusta or pre (before) that in my ankle. Well, other parts are taking the brunt of the load so I'm a little more sore in other areas, but the ankle's good. So that surgery was a success.

“I would say that the procedures I've had done post last couple years, I've had a number of them and at some point in time I was going to have to get my ankle replaced or fused. That timetable was speeded up. They weren't expecting me to put as much force into that ankle as when I hit drivers, and so I think the doctors were surprised by that.

“The only way to fix that was either to get it replaced or fused, and we chose the fusion, the subtalar fusion and put hardware in there. The next part was the hard part, it's six months of doing nothing. The first couple months were really rough, but unfortunately I've had experience, I've gone through it before and I'm here on the good side now.”