Tiger Woods responds to major PGA Tour deal 

A landmark deal finalised between the PGA Tour and a group of billionaire US investors will allow up to 200 players to receive $1.5billion in shared equity.

Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a conglomerate led by the Liverpool FC owners Fenway Sports Group, have become minority shareholders in the Tour’s new for-profit entity named PGA Tour Enterprises and will inject up to $3bn in the company.

What this means for a deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) bankrolling LIV Golf is somewhat unclear, though the Tour insist the agreement with the SSG can pave the way for the PIF to also become minority co-investors.

But what is clear is that players who rejected the LIV breakaway’s overtures and remained loyal to the US circuit will now be rewarded handsomely.

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The size of each member’s equity is set be determined by “career accomplishments, recent achievements and Tour status, with grants vesting over time,” it was explained in a memo to players on Wednesday.

And it’s that part of the deal that Tiger Woods has labelled a piece of “sports history.”

As reported by Golf.com, Woods told his peers of his excitement in a conference call after the deal was announced.

“Hey everyone, this is Tiger Woods. Just wanted to say thank you, SSG, for believing in us and believing in our sport.” he said on the call.

“Believing in the potential growth that we could enjoy together. Golf is an amazing sport. It has allowed communities to heal and grow. And we, as a team, are going to offer that according to what we believe is the true compensation and meritocracy that our sport has been built upon for all these years…”

“As has been described earlier, as the Tour grows, we grow. So the more we invest into the Tour, the more we get the benefits of it. Which has never been — it’s never happened in sports history. So we’re the first. Exciting for me to be able to be part of that.”

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Woods is a new member of the PGA Tour Policy Board that unanimously voted for the changes, along with fellow player directors Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, and Webb Simpson.

And with a deal struck with the SSG, Spieth now believes that an agreement with the PIF is not essential to secure the long-term future of the Tour.

“I don’t think it’s needed,” Spieth said, speaking ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“The idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right now without anything else, with the option of other investors.

“If the PIF were interested in coming in on terms that our members like and the economic terms are at or not beyond SSGs, and they feel it would be a good idea, I think that’s where the discussions will start.

“I think that it should be extremely positive at this point that the ship’s turning and it can only go on the right way from here.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.