After documents were released over the weekend in a court case, Tiger Woods denied ever having seen a memo that allegedly offered talking points for him to garner support for the PGA Tour as it sparred with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
According to Sports Illustrated, 357 pages of documents were made public over the weekend, as part of an antitrust lawsuit brought in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida. The documents included an outline of a speech PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was to deliver at a June 21, 2022 town hall meeting with PGA Tour players at the Travelers Championship. The speech was intended to fight back against the incursions the LIV Golf tour, which is propped by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, had been waging against the PGA Tour at the time.
Part of the memo included scripted talking points for Woods to deliver at the meeting.
“In response to the talking points memo released this weekend, I have never seen this document until today, and I did not attend the players meeting for which it was prepared at the 2022 Travelers,” Woods said Sunday evening in a statement shared to his Twitter account.
Woods had previously not commented publicly on any golf matter since the June 6 announcement that partnered the PGA Tour with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. The court documents were first obtained by the Twitter account @desertdufferLLG.
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According to screenshots shared by the @desertdufferLLG account, Monahan planned to “explain how the LIV Golf Series is a threat to your livelihood, your business and the game of golf as a whole.” Then, per the memo, the plan was to bring in Woods to rally support for the PGA Tour with a series of talking points.
Included in the memo are even scripted instructions for Woods to ask Monahan and members of the PGA Tour’s executive team to leave the room.
What was in alleged talking points for Tiger Woods?
According to the court documents, scripted talking points for Woods included:
- “This isn’t really my thing, as you know − formal meetings with speeches at podiums.”
- “Guys, let me start by saying, I think Jay, our captain in this scenario, is working his ass off.”
- “I’ve known him a long time, and while we haven’t always agreed on everything, I do know this: he’s doing what’s right for this TOUR, not just because it’s his job, but because he cares deeply about every one of us in this room and beyond.”
- “He’s the right guy for this war. He’s a fighter.”
- “I know it’s easy to just motor along and play your schedule and do your thing, but you should know, LIV Golf is trying to take down the PGA TOUR and take over golf.”
- “Guys, make no mistake, if this is an arms’ race − and if the weapons here are dollar bills − the PGA TOUR can’t compete.”
- “But if WE refuse to go anywhere, no matter how much dirty money they throw our way … that’s our silver bullet.”
- “Unfortunately, 20 of our former members have given them a head start. They’ve chosen a (expletive) ton of money over this TOUR, everything it’s given them and everything it stands for.”
- “So when you ask, what can I do, I have two ideas.
- “First, do what I did: Tell the Saudis to go (expletive) themselves. And mean it.
- “Second, tell the world, over and over, any chance you get, that you are sticking with the TOUR because you are part of something bigger than yourself. That you are the PGA TOUR, and the PGA TOUR is you. That it’s damn good, and it’s worth fighting for.”
What else is going on with the PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership?
The PGA Tour has been adamant that the deal is not a merger, despite an early press release using that language. As part of the agreement, PGA Tour Inc. will remain in place as a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization, which means it will continue to have oversight over its tour. The difference with the deal, however, is that − in the threat of continued disruption in men’s professional golf − the PGA Tour reversed course and is aligning with the massive influx of Saudi capital. The Department of Justice will investigate the deal, according to a June 15 report by The Wall Street Journal.
