[PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/R&A]
Tiger Woods is meeting with a group of PGA Tour players today to continue discussions regarding the ongoing schism caused by the advent of LIV Golf.
Camera crews caught Woods and fellow tour pro Rickie Fowler arriving at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, US time. The tour’s second postseason event, the BMW Championship, is being conducted 30 kilometres away at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.
The tour has a scheduled Player Advisory Council meeting later today, but Woods will be part of a separate, smaller meeting comprising the sport’s best players and its marquee attractions, multiple sources have told Golf Digest. It is believed the conversation will focus on what the players and the tour can do to combat the threat of the fledgling rival circuit. Woods was part of a similar group discussion at the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor in Ireland last month.
Though Woods has played just three times this season, he has been a vocal opponent of LIV Golf and players who have jumped to the Saudi-backed group. “I disagree with it,” Woods said in July at the Open Championship. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.” Woods also allegedly turned down a $US800 million offer to join LIV Golf last year.
The meeting comes amid reports that more tour pros – including reigning Players and Open champion Cameron Smith – will defect to LIV Golf after the season-finale Tour Championship in Atlanta next week. LIV Golf’s next event is scheduled for the first weekend in September at the International Golf Club in Bolton, Massachusetts.
