WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The PGA Tour is in Delaware for the first time and the buzz still surrounded Tiger Woods, even if he didn’t have clubs and wasn’t even at the golf course.
Woods flew to Wilmington on Tuesday for a private meeting of top players to discuss the threat of Saudi-funded LIV Golf, according to two people aware of the plans at the BMW Championship.
They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the privacy of the meeting. One person invited to the meeting said it was to get on the same page against LIV Golf, along with taking more ownership in the direction of the PGA Tour.
That meeting led to a previously scheduled Player Advisory Council meeting being moved back an hour or so to later Tuesday afternoon. Woods flew up from his home in Florida with Rickie Fowler, who didn’t qualify for the second FedEx Cup playoff event.
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The meeting was held away from Wilmington Country Club at a hotel, according to another person aware of the details. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was not invited.
“There is a player meeting, but that’s all I can tell you about that,” Jon Rahm said.
Tiger Woods turned down an offer between $700 million and $800 million to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Monahan met with the players informally last week following a hearing in which a federal judge denied a request by three LIV Golf players seeking to play in the PGA Tour postseason.
He also met with the players a week after the U.S. Open to detail plans for big increases in prize money on the PGA Tour, qualifying changes and a new schedule that will return to a January start to the season in 2024.
“I’m not sure what, if anything, will change, what will be the result of it,” Patrick Cantlay said. “I think it’s good that a lot of the players are getting together to discuss the situation out here, especially given the current circumstances.”
Woods has been a strong opponent of LIV Golf. The rival league's leader, Greg Norman, confirmed in an interview with Fox News last month that Woods was offered in the range of $700 to $800 million to take part. Norman said that was before he was hired to run LIV Golf.
Norman and Woods have never been close, going back to when Woods arrived on the PGA Tour and instantly became the biggest star golf had seen in generations.
Woods was particularly forceful at the British Open last month when he said of Norman not being invited to festivities around the 150th Open, “Greg has done some things that I don’t think is in the best interest of our game.”
He said he disagreed with players getting enormous signing bonuses to defect to LIV Golf, saying they have turned their backs on the tour that made them famous.
The PGA Tour has reacted to the depth of Saudi funding with a $50 million bonus pool called the Player Impact Program that pays 10 leading players based on how much attention they get. Some players, such as Cantlay, the defending FedEx Cup champion, don't like the program.
Also in the works is a series of overseas tournaments at the end of the year that will reward the top performers. The tour hasn't announced set details or a sponsor.
LIV Golf has played three events offering $25 million apiece in prize money to a group of players that includes Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. It resumes its eight-tournament schedule after the FedEx Cup ends next week.
McIlroy questions competitive desire of players in LIV Golf
NOT SO PERFECT GOLF
Jon Rahm knows as well as anyone how hard it is to win a major, much less a U.S. Open. It was only reviewing highlights of his win last year at Torrey Pines that he realized that great golf and perfect golf are not the same.
It helps to already have one major, so he said that eases a little of the pressure. He feels he can enjoy the U.S. Open a little more knowing he doesn't have to do anything special.
“It's easy to think you need to be playing perfect golf,” Rahm said. "And I remember watching my highlights of Sunday last year, and I thought I played one of the best rounds of my life. And I kept thinking, ‘I cannot believe how many fairway bunkers I hit that day, how many greens I missed, and how many putts I missed.’
“It's golf, and that's how it is,” he said. “You truly don’t have to play perfect, and that’s I think the best lesson I can take from that.”
BROOKLINE MEMORIES
Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Sergio Garcia are the only players at the U.S. Open who played in the 1999 Ryder Cup. Those aren't the only players making a return to The Country Club.
Four players who reached the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Amateur also made it into the U.S. Open at Brookline. That starts with Matt Fitzpatrick, the winner. It also includes Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners of Canada and Brandon Matthews.
Scheffler had an amazing run. He needed 20 holes to beat Stewart Jolly in the first round, 20 holes to beat Brandon Hagy in the second round and he beat Matthias Schwab on the 18th hole to reach the quarterfinals. He lost to Brady Watt, 2 and 1.
“I remember being down in pretty much all my matches and coming back,” Scheffler said. “On the three that I won, I came back late on all of them. I think I made a big putt against maybe Brandon Hagy — may have been Brandon — on 17. I have good memories of this place.”
QUALIFYING BLUES
Collin Morikawa is a two-time major champion at age 25, the No. 7 player in the world who can expect to be exempt in the U.S. Open for years to come.
It wasn't always that easy.
“Yeah, well, I suck at qualifying. I really do," Morikawa said Tuesday.
He said he never made it to a U.S. Junior and he can think of only one U.S. Amateur appearance when he was exempt through his amateur ranking. As for the U.S. Open? He went through qualifying three times while at Cal and never came particularly close.
“I decided I hate California — no, I'm kidding,” the California native said.
He missed out by four shots at Lake Merced in San Francisco in 2016 and in 2018. In between, the U.S. Open sectional was in Newport Beach. He missed that by seven shots.
“I just never played well in those events and decided to go to the Ohio one three years ago,” he said. “Made that. The rest is history.”
He made it through Columbus — known as the PGA Tour qualifier because it has the strongest field and the most spots — without a shot to spare. That was in 2019, and he tied for 35th at Pebble Beach in his second tournament as a pro.
Four starts later, he was a PGA Tour winner. A year later, he was a major champion. Yes, the rest is history.
A CADDIE'S LIFE
Rory McIlroy is back to work with his old caddie for the U.S. Open.
Harry Diamond, a longtime friend and Irish amateur player, has been on McIlroy's bag the last five years but was home last week as his wife gave birth to their second child. McIlroy had a backup plan — former Irish rugby union player Niall O'Connor — when he won the RBC Canadian Open for his first win this year.
“Niall and I's run has come to an end at this point,” McIlroy said. “Pretty good record. Had a fourth in Dubai and a first in Canada. If I ever need someone to jump in for Harry, I've got a pretty good substitute there.”
STAT OF THE DAY
Of the six news conferences Tuesday, Scottie Scheffler was the only player who was not asked about the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.
FINAL WORD
“If you want to be one of the best players in the world, this is the country where you need to play the majority of your golf.” — Rory McIlroy.
