Playing for only the third time since a car accident that nearly cost him his leg, Tiger Woods has arrived in Scotland for this week’s Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he won the Claret Jug in 2000 and again in 2005. Woods, who withdrew from the PGA Championship in May after carding a disastrous third-round 79 (+9) at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, was presented what Greg Norman described as a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer to join LIV Golf—a competing tour backed by Saudi investors—but couldn’t bring himself to leave the PGA.
Addressing that subject Tuesday, the 46-year-old expressed his disappointment in players defecting to LIV, dismissing it as a shameless cash grab and a lesser version of the sport he and other pioneers worked so hard to build.
“I disagree with it,” Woods told ESPN's Mark Schlabach. “They’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position."
Woods, of course, might be one of the few athletes on the planet who can afford to turn down a nine-figure sum without giving it a second thought. Though LIV has wrangled a handful of players still in their prime (Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Abraham Ancer and Patrick Reed, among others), the new league is mostly comprised of aging stars looking for one last payday.
The case for LIV is exceedingly simple—who wouldn’t want more money while playing a more relaxed schedule with fewer events and shorter tournaments? However, doing so requires a significant moral compromise (the Saudi government’s sordid history of corruption and human rights abuses have cast a dark cloud over LIV) and has cost players millions in endorsement money. Not only that, but tour defectors also face the looming prospect of being barred from the PGA Championship and potentially the most prestigious event on the golf calendar, the Masters Tournament at Augusta National.
“Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships,” said Woods, who won his fifth green jacket at the 2019 Masters, completing his improbable comeback after a frustrating stretch marred by injuries, inconsistency and no shortage of off-field drama. “That, to me, I just don't understand it."
Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and others who have stayed loyal to the PGA all have the same complaint—LIV is taking the easy way out. “What is the incentive to practice?” asked Woods. “What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt? You’re just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes.”
The R&A rescinded Norman’s invite to this year’s champions dinner, a decision Woods agreed with. Woods says Norman has long wanted to start his own tour, attempting a similar coup decades earlier. “He tried to do this back in the early ’90s. It didn’t work then and he’s trying to make it work now,” said Woods alluding to Norman’s history of undermining the PGA. “I still don’t see how that’s in the best interest of the game.”
Woods will tee off Thursday at 2:59 PM local time along with partners Max Homa and reigning U.S. Open champ Matthew Fitzpatrick.
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