During a press conference for The Open, Tiger Woods publically shared his opinion on the upstart LIV Tour. It was public knowledge that Tiger turned down a ridiculous amount of money from the Saudis to join their league, but hadn’t really let his opinions on the matter loose until now.
He framed these golfers who left the PGA for LIV as traitors who “turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position”. Tiger is a big fan of golf and values the history and tradition behind the PGA tour, hinting that he feels going to the LIV tour is negatively impacting the legacy of these athletes.
Tiger also questioned motivation. Most athletes are playing hard for two reasons; legacy/winning and contracts. LIV golfers don’t really have to worry about either of those things anymore. They got huge paydays upfront and essentially ruined their legacy. Where is the motivation? Even if these golfers shoot 100 over pay they’re still making millions. That is what makes the PGA tour great, there is so much incentive to win and improve.
Tiger did not object to banning LIV players from PGA tournaments and stated that even the possibility of being banned from any of the major tournaments immediately turned him off to the idea of LIV. We will see if that ends up happening.
