Tiger Woods — similar to he all the time is — was ready for the questions.
And Woods — not like how he’s all the time been together with his career-long mantra for being vanilla when requested about controversial, hot-button points — appeared delighted to pounce, to make a headline or three, the NY Submit experiences.
And so, he did precisely that on Tuesday.
Woods, the host of this week’s Hero World Problem, on Monday withdrew from the enjoying area with plantar fasciitis. So, he gained’t tee it up when the elite 20-player event begins on Thursday. Woods did, nevertheless, tee up LIV Golf CEO and staff commissioner Greg Norman.
And he swung onerous.
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Woods doesn’t converse to reporters usually — significantly in the previous couple of years as his well being has deteriorated and he’s performed so few tournaments. The final time he performed in a event and spoke publicly was on July 15 when he missed the lower within the British Open at St. Andrews.
You might say Woods, who turns 47 on Dec. 30, made up for misplaced time when the subject of LIV and Norman and whether or not they can “coexist” with the PGA Tour got here up.
“I feel Greg has to go, to begin with,” Woods mentioned throughout his 30-minute information convention. “Then we will speak, we will all speak freely.”
Requested if he believes the 2 sides can come to a decision, thus placing a halt to the game’s finest gamers being separated, Woods mentioned, “Not proper now, not with their management, not with Greg there and his animosity in the direction of the Tour itself. I don’t see that occuring.
“Greg’s obtained to depart after which we will finally, hopefully, have a keep between the 2 lawsuits and determine one thing out. However why would you alter something should you’ve obtained a lawsuit towards you? They sued us first.”
The migration of a few of the sport’s largest stars — Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Phil Mickelson to call a number of — for the multi-millions of {dollars} the Saudis have paid them has divided the game.
The place does it go from right here?
“We don’t know, nobody is aware of,” Woods mentioned. “Proper now, there’s a number of animosity — particularly from their management. I don’t know what their endgame is. It may be simply being an official member of the golf ecosystem and being recognised with World Rating factors. I feel that’s what their supposed objective is.
“They’ve spent most likely near $2 billion this yr. Who’s to say they will’t spend $4 or $5 billion subsequent yr? It’s an limitless pit of cash. However that doesn’t essentially create legacies both. You wish to evaluate your self to [Ben] Hogan? You wish to evaluate your self to [Sam] Snead? You wish to evaluate your self to [Jack] Nicklaus? You may’t do this over there, however you may on this tour.”
Woods mentioned he believes there’s “a window of alternative” for the 2 excursions to “determine this out.”
“It has to start out with management on their facet — understanding that what is going on proper now will not be in the perfect [interest], not in the perfect match or future for the entire sport of golf. Now, what’s one of the simplest ways for our sport to develop? It’s not this fashion.
“However it is advisable to have the 2 our bodies come collectively. If one facet has a lot animosity, somebody making an attempt to destroy our tour, then how do you’re employed with that?”
Norman final month expressed a want to sit down down with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, saying, “We now have tried on many angles, many fronts. It’s very disappointing. The ball is of their courtroom now. I can inform you with my coronary heart, all the PGA Tour gamers and DP World Tour gamers who performed with LIV … they wish to [be able to] return and play on the PGA Tour.
“The PGA Tour has created this angst. We didn’t create the angst. Why does competitors create heartburn? Why the vitriol?”
Norman, 67, has a historical past of heartburn with each the PGA Tour and Woods. Some 30 years in the past, he tried to create a rival tour and that was squashed by then-commissioner Tim Finchem, who launched a collection of World Golf Championship occasions.
As for Woods, Norman, who held the document for many weeks ranked No. 1 till Woods arrived to his prime and shattered the document, has all the time felt slighted and disrespected by Woods.
It’s not a wholesome scenario. Woods and Rory McIlroy are proper: Not in our lifetimes will the PGA Tour and LIV be capable of come to a decision with Norman sitting on the LIV finish of the negotiating desk.
This text initially appeared on the NY Submit and was reproduced with permission.|
