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 [February 15, 2023]
By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Tiger Woods said he did not know how he felt
about facing golfers who had left the PGA Tour for rival LIV Golf
for the first time at April's Masters but acknowledged that the
splintering of the sport had taken a toll.
"I don't know what that reaction is going to be," said Woods, who
will tee it up at the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational this week.
"I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a
different path, but we'll see when all that transpires. It's still a
couple of months away."
Players from the warring circuits will break bread at the Masters
traditional pre-tournament Champions' dinner, and Woods said the
focus should be on reigning tournament champion Scottie Scheffler
despite the obvious tensions.
"We need to make sure Scottie is honored correctly while also
realizing the nature of what has transpired," he said.
"The people who have left, where our situations are legally,
emotionally -- there's a lot there."
Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka are among the big
names who have left the PGA Tour for the lucrative, Saudi-backed LIV
Golf. While banned from PGA Tour events, LIV players have been
invited to compete at the Masters.
LIV Golf's inaugural season last year and the subsequent
controversies and lawsuits had been "very turbulent" for the sport,
Woods told reporters at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific
Palisades.
"We never would have expected the game of golf to be in this
situation but it is. That's the reality," he said.
"They're a competitive organization trying to create the best
product they possibly can and we're also trying to create the best
product, which we think is the future of golf and how it should be
played.
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Golf - The 150th Open Championship - Old
Course, St Andrews, Scotland, Britain - July 15, 2022 Tiger Woods of
the U.S. reacts on the 18th during the second round REUTERS/Russell
Cheyne
"How do we do that? We're still working on it."
Woods called world number one Rory McIlroy the PGA Tour's
"ambassador" and said he had been extraordinary at navigating the
new, and at times hostile, terrain.
McIlroy beat LIV Golf's Patrick Reed by one stroke at last month's
Dubai Desert Classic after the American, who is taking legal action
on different fronts, threw a tee in the direction of the Northern
Irishman, whom he had subpoenaed over Christmas.
"It's been tough on him and he's been exceptional," Woods said.
"I've been on all of these conference calls, these side meetings,
and for him to go out and play and win, it's been incredible."
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles, additional reporting by
Frank Pingue; editing by Clare Fallon)
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