On Monday, PGA Tour player directors from the newly formed for-profit organization PGA Tour Enterprises finally met with Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) President Yasir Al-Rumayan.
News of the conference surfaced over the weekend and will reportedly be held in Ponta Vedra Beach, Florida. The Players Championship site.
After all, they met in the Bahamas, hosted by Tiger Woods.
Woods is one of six player directors. The rest are made up of Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Peter Malnati, Jordan Spieth, and Adam Scott.
Woods was praised as follows.very enthusiasticAccording to Sports Illustrated, he played a round of golf with Al Rumayan.
Mr. Simpson met with SI’s Bob Harig and explained the details of the meeting.
Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
“My interest in going there was to find out more about who he was and what he thought,” Simpson said. “Let’s learn more about LIV. What intentions and hopes were there? …Meeting and greeting and learning. He wanted to learn from us what we were thinking. I think so. We wanted to know what he was thinking.”
If that was the goal, Simpson must have been quite disappointed.
“We couldn’t figure out what he wanted and what LIV wanted,” Simpson said.
“I didn’t walk away with a clearer understanding of what was going to happen in the future. But I definitely walked away feeling glad I did…it wasn’t a stressful experience at all.” It was a day, but it was a good day.”
Golf Channel’s Keira Dixon also met with the anonymous player director, who continued that they are still “a long way” from unifying golf.
Woods and the other player directors are certainly an important step forward. But it doesn’t seem like much was accomplished.
Although few specific details of the talks have been released, one thing remains clear. That means the division that has gripped the sport of golf for two years is far from over.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social media platforms.
