Tiger Woods is not a fan of LIV Golf. During a news conference for 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews on Tuesday, the golf superstar shared his opinion of LIV Golf and the players who joined the league. Woods ripped the new league and the players, saying that they are not loyal to the PGA Tour.
“I disagree with it,” Woods said at the news conference, per ESPN. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.” The LIV Golf Invitational series is not yet recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking, meaning the players who took part in the first two events in London and Portland, Oregon didn’t receive world points. Also, the LIV Golf players can’t participate in PGA Tour major championships.
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“Who knows what’s going to happen in the near future with world-ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships,” Woods said. “The governing body is going to have to figure that out. “Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility. We don’t know that for sure yet. It’s up to all the major championship bodies to make that determination. But that is a possibility, that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here, walk down the fairways at Augusta National. That, to me, I just don’t understand it.”
LIV Golf is financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Some of the notable players who have joined LIV Golf are Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia. Golf legend Greg Norman is CEO of LIV Golf, and the prize money for the second event ranged from $120,000 – $4 million.
“I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the tour has given us, the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game,” Woods said.
“I know Greg tried to do this back in the early ’90s. It didn’t work then, and he’s trying to make it work now. I still don’t see how that’s in the best interests of the game. What the European Tour and what the PGA Tour stands for and what they’ve done, and also all governing bodies of the game of golf and all the major championships, how they run it. I think they see it differently than what Greg sees it.”
