“They are pretty far away”: PGA Tour insider on Tiger Woods and other directors’ meeting with PIF governor in Bahamas 

The golf world has been on the edge of its seat since the PGA Tour, represented by Tiger Woods and the rest of the Player Directors, and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia met in the Bahamas. Not much has been revealed, but some reports have begun to circulate stating that the positions are "pretty far away."

The PGA Tour and the PIF met this Monday, March 18, in the Bahamas. Several of the Players Directors flew from there to Palm Harbor, Florida, to play in the Valspar Championship. Although none of them gave official statements, one of them spoke to Golf Channel reporter Kira Dixon and she shared his opinions anonymously.

Here is part of what Kira Dixon reported about her conversation with one of the PGA Tour's Player-Directors:

"He said that it was nice to just demystify who Yasir Al-Rumayyan is, the chief governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia... He also said that Yasir came into this meeting with his ideas of where professional golf should go, and of course the PGA Tour side and the players have their ideas of where professional golf should go, and he said that they're pretty far away from actually coming to a place where they're going to unite together, but it was very much a possitive meeting and that the relationship is "very open" from here on out."

The Tour Player-Directors (Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay) as well as Liaison Director Joe Ogilvie and Commissioner Jay Monahan participated in the meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

Player Directors present on The Valspar Championship field include Jordan Spieth, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson.

What else has been said about the meeting between the PGA Tour and the PIF?

The only official communication about the meeting between PGA Tour representatives and the PIF Governor was a letter sent by Jay Monahan to the Tour players.

In the letter, Monahan confirms the occurrence of the meeting and assures that he will keep the players as informed as possible.

Here is part of what Monahan told the players (via Clutch Points):

"The conversation throughout was constructive and represents an important part of our due diligence process in selecting potential investors for PGA Tour Enterprises. This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group."

“During the session, Yasir had a chance to introduce himself to our player directors and talk through his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf."

"As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand that we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time."

Reports indicate that Tiger Woods and Yasir Al-Rumayyan are still in the Bahamas (as of Tuesday, 19 March).