LIV Golf has accused the PGA Tour of getting the game’s biggest star to speak out against players who have joined the Saudi-backed circuit.
Tiger Woods, at the tour’s request, publicly criticized players who bolted from the PGA Tour to LIV, according to accusations made in documents that are part of an antitrust lawsuit that was filed last week by 11 LIV players against the tour, per The Daily Mail.
According to the report, Carlos Ortiz has since withdrawn his name from the suit, but the 10 remaining players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, are claiming that the tour got the 15-time major champion Woods to “do its bidding” by criticizing players who ditched the tour for LIV.
“The Tour also got Tiger Woods to do its bidding and publicly criticize golfers — particularly younger golfers — for joining LIV Golf by suggesting they would never play in The Masters, The Open, or other Majors and would not earn OWGR [Official World Golf Ranking] points,” the lawsuit says.
Speaking at last month’s British Open at St. Andrews, Woods said players who have bolted for LIV have turned their back on the sport.
Tiger Woods said that players who have joined LIV Golf have “turned their back” on the sport.Getty Images“I disagree with those who have gone to LIV,” Woods told reporters. “I think they have turned their back on what allowed them to get to this position. Some players have never had a chance to even experience playing on one of the tours. They have gone right from the amateur ranks to that organization and never really had a chance to feel what it is like to play a schedule or play in big events.
“Some of these players may never even get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility. They will never get a chance to experience this right here. Walk down the fairways at Augusta National. I don’t understand it. What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?
“You are just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes.”
LIV’s tournaments consist of just three rounds, with no cut and guaranteed money, though there seems to be at least some question about the money after it was revealed in court earlier this week by a lawyer for LIV that it appears at least some players from LIV have their tournament winnings count against what they’ve already been paid in guaranteed money for joining.
Woods, who was reportedly offered north of $500 million to join LIV, meanwhile, has continually spoken out against the league.
“I can understand 54 holes for the Senior Tour,” he said at the British Open. “The guys are older and a little more banged up. When you are young, 72-hole tests are part of it. We used to have 36-hole playoffs for majors.
Tiger Woods has been outspoken about his disdain for LIV Golf.David Blunsden/Action Plus/Shutterstock “I just don’t see how this is positive in the long term. It would be sad to see some of these young kids never get a chance to walk these hallowed grounds and play in these majors.”
LIV claims that the statements made by Woods are in line with their earlier evidence that the tour was pressuring the governing bodies that run golf’s major championships to join the tour in punishing or banning players who played in LIV events. Along those lines, the lawsuit claims that Masters officials told players not to play in LIV tournaments.
Woods has not only been critical of LIV and those who have joined it but of its commissioner and CEO, Greg Norman.
“I know what the PGA Tour stands for, what it has given us: the ability to chase after our careers, the trophies we play for and to earn what we get and the history that has been part of this game,” Woods said last month. “I know Greg tried to do what he is doing now back in the early ‘90s. It didn’t work then and he is trying to make it work now. I still don’t see how that is in the game’s best interests.
“All the governing bodies, the PGA Tour, the European Tour, all the majors — we all see it differently than Greg.”
