Tiger Woods is denying a claim that he received scripted comments reportedly sent from the PGA Tour last summer when the tour was battling LIV Golf. Over the weekend, Twitter user “desertdufferLLG” posted a snapshot of documents from an antitrust lawsuit involving the PGA Tour in the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach Country Florida, according to GolfDigest. It includes remarks that the tour prepared for Woods to give during an appearance at a players meeting in June 2022, less than three weeks after the first LIV gold event took place. The talking points included Woods saying PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan “is the right guy for this war,” and that tour players should “Do what I did: tell the Saudis to go f— themselves. And mean it.”
Woods released a statement on Sunday that said he never saw the prepared makes and did not appear at the meeting in question. “In response to the talking points memo released this weekend, I have never seen this document until today, and I did not attend the players meeting for which it was prepared at the 2022 Travelers,” Woods tweeted.
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This news comes shortly after the PGA Tour announced it will partner with Saudi Arana’s Public Investment Fund, the primary funders of LIV Golf, for a new joint venture. Woods, who has won 15 majors in his career has not commented on that PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership and last competed at the Masters in April as he’s currently having surgery on his right ankle.
Woods was reportedly offered hundreds of millions to join LIV Golf but turned it down. According to GolfChannel.com (per ESPN), the alleged remarks written for Woods also included one about his teenage son Charlie. “You know, Charlie is a pretty good player … maybe some day he will be a professional golfer at the highest level,” the statement says. “When and if that happens, I want him to be a PGA Tour member, and I want the PGA Tour to look like it does now — only better.”
In July 2022, Woods did talk to reporters about the golfers who joined LIV Golf. “I disagree with it,” Woods said. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
