Donald Trump’s involvement in skilled golf’s peace talks has ramped up additional, with Tiger Woods amongst these as a result of be afforded an viewers with the US president on the White Home on Thursday afternoon.
Woods is predicted to affix the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, fellow board member Adam Scott and representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund in a gathering hosted by Trump amid growing hopes the fractured sport can unite over the approaching months. Key sticking factors encompass the exact position for Yasir al-Rumayyan, the PIF’s governor, in golf’s new world and the place the Saudi-established LIV Tour sits on the game’s schedule.
LIV’s formation in 2022 created divisions in elite golf which might be but to heal. Gamers comparable to Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau swapped the PGA Tour for LIV with no obvious hope of return. If Trump can speed up a deal – and he believes he can – a pathway could be established for these golfers to play in PGA Tour occasions as soon as once more.
Equally intriguing is the place the PGA Tour, LIV and the DP World Tour all sit in what ideally could be a world golf schedule. The PGA Tour declined to touch upon the White Home assembly when approached by the Guardian on Thursday.
Trump holds a major position not solely due to his love for golf however due to affect he can exert on the US Division of Justice, which beneath Joe Biden’s presidency was seen as a possible stumbling block to the PGA Tour and Saudis forming an alliance.
In sensible phrases the PIF will search to put money into PGA Tour Enterprises, a physique created in June 2023 when a framework settlement for peace in golf was surprisingly introduced. Broader issues of intrigue contain potential elevated involvement by Saudi Arabia in US sports activities franchises.
Scott and Monahan additionally attended the White Home in early February. Woods spoke extra positively than ever on Sunday about golf’s future. “Issues are going to heal rapidly,” Woods mentioned. “We’re going to get this recreation moving into the proper route.” Rory McIlroy had earlier revealed he performed golf with Trump in early January.
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