“Very turbulent" – Tiger Woods breaks silence on possible feud with LIV golfers at Masters dinner
Tiger Woods addressed several questions concerning the current tension between LIV Golf and PGA during his pre-tournament press conference at the Genesis Invitational.
On the question of facing the Saudi-backed circuit golfers for the first time at Augusta National in April, he said he didn't know what the reaction would be like. This year's Masters' traditional pre-tournament Champions' dinner will be different as golf has now been fractioned into two rival circuits.
"I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a different path," Woods said. "But we'll see when all that transpires. That is still a couple months away."
Woods added that the focus should be on honoring reigning champion Scottie Scheffler at the Champions dinner and not on him and other golfers being uncomfortable due to outside tensions.
"We as a whole need to honor Scottie, Scottie's the winner, it's his dinner," said the five times Masters champion. "So making sure that Scottie gets honored correctly but also realizing the nature of what has transpired and the people that have left, just where our situations are either legally, emotionally, there's a lot there."
Last year saw a lot of players leaving the PGA Tour for the lucrative LIV Golf, which the Saudi Public Investment Fund primarily sponsors. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka are some of the biggest names on the Tour now defecting to the rival circuit. Last year's Open Championship winner Cameron Smith also chose to switch soon after winning the biggest title of his life.
While the PGA Tour completely banned the LIV professionals from competing in the Tour event, the Masters surprisingly announced that LIV players were invited to compete at the Augusta National. This led to controversies and lawsuits between the two tours.
Tiger told reporters that what happened last year was entirely unexpected and all that has been "turbulent" but that is the reality now.
"The past year since, if you go back to this week at Genesis last year to where it's at now, we all have to say it's been very turbulent," said the former World No. 1. "Obviously, they're[LIV] a competitive organization trying to create their best product they possibly can, and we're trying to create the best product that we think the future of golf, how it should be played."
Woods added that they were working on creating the best product and players also needed to play around the globe to make the PGA Tour the best product.
"It's been tough on him, but he's been exceptional," Tiger Woods on Rory tackling the PGA-LIV Golf situation
Unlike Woods, Rory faced the LIV-associated pros during the DP World Tour's Hero Dubai Desert Classic. The event didn't escape controversy as the news of Patrick Reed throwing a tee in McIlroy's direction was all over the news even before the tournament started.
Before that, Rory received a subpoena from the American on Christmas Eve when he was celebrating with his family, which wasn't a pleasant feeling at all for him.
Woods called McIlroy the Tour's ambassador and said it was incredible to see him play and win the Dubai event despite going through all the adverse situations.
"It's been tough on him[Rory], but he's been exceptional. To be able to go through all that, I've been with him on all those conference calls and side meetings, and for him to go out there and play and win, it's been incredible," Woods said.