FILE PHOTO: Golfer Tiger Woods is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 6, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
(Reuters) - Tiger Woods said on Sunday that talks toward a deal that would resolve the fissure in golf between the U.S.-based PGA Tour and Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf are moving in the right direction.
Woods added that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Player Director Adam Scott had a productive meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump this month, where they asked him to get involved in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
"I think we're in a very positive place right now," Woods said during the CBS Sports broadcast of the Genesis Open in San Diego.
"We had a meeting with the president. Unfortunately I had some other circumstances that came up but Jay and Adam, they did great during the meeting and we have a subsequent meeting coming up," he said.
"I think things are going to heal quickly. We're going to get this game going in the right direction. It has been headed in the wrong direction for a number of years.
"The fans want all the top players playing together and we're going to make that happen."
LIV Golf, which features no-cut, 54-hole events, held its inaugural event in June 2022, and through mega-money contracts and lucrative purses has since lured a number of golf's biggest names, including major champions Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, PIF and Europe-based DP World Tour announced a framework agreement in June 2023 to house their commercial operations in a new entity and set Dec. 31 of that year as a deadline to reach a definitive agreement.
That announcement brought an end to legal battles between the parties but raised concerns in Washington from lawmakers who are mistrustful of Saudi Arabia and critical of the country's human rights record.
The sides extended the deadline and as talks with the PIF dragged on, outside investor interest in the PGA Tour heated up by way of Strategic Sports Group, an investment group headlined by Fenway Sports Group.
LIV Golf has played at courses owned by Trump since its inception and will do so again in 2025 with its April 4-6 event scheduled to be held at Trump National Doral in Miami.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)
