LIV Golf Series: 23 players attend Tiger Woods emergency meeting – but two stars absent

A total of 23 top PGA Tour players attended a crisis meeting held by Tiger Woods surrounding LIV Golf – but two significant names were absent, according to reports.

Woods decided to respond after the growing number of PGA Tour players that have joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

Amongst the star players that have joined the series are Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. In addition, there are reports that Cameron Smith is close to joining the series. However, this has not yet been announced.

The prize money and payments offered by LIV Golf far outweigh that of the PGA Tour. For instance, according to reports, Koepka is being paid $150 million to play. In contrast, he took home a career-high of $9.6 million in the 2018/19 PGA Tour season, as per Spotrac.

What was the Tiger Woods meeting about?

According to ESPN, via sources, the meeting was organised to ‘rally support around the PGA Tour’.

The world’s top 20 and a series of other influential PGA Tour members were invited. Tiger Woods has been heavily critical of LIV Golf. He turned down a huge offer to join the tournament, believed to be in the region of $700-800 million.

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After the meeting concluded, the feeling around the players was believed to be ‘good’. No Laying Up reports that a proposal has been created to ‘dramatically reshape the Tour’. In addition, an ‘elevated series of limited field events’ was also drawn up. The PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, will now scrutinise the proposed plans.

Although organised by Woods, it is also claimed that Rory McIlroy played an influential role in leading the meeting.

Who attended the Tiger Woods/LIV Golf meeting?

No Laying Up report that 23 players attended the meeting, including some top stars in golf. They include reigning Masters champion, Scottie Scheffler, fellow US major winners Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa, and 2021 US Open winner Jon Rahm.

However, two names were conspicuous by their absence. It is said that neither 2021 Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama, and 2022 Open champion, Cameron Smith, were present at the meeting.

Smith, in particular, has been heavily linked with LIV Golf since he won The Open in July. According to The Telegraph, LIV will announce seven new players after the completion of the Tour Championship, which concludes on August 28. Smith is expected to be one of the names on the list.

Below is the full list of PGA Tour players that attended the meeting:

  • Tiger Woods
  • Rory McIlroy
  • Sam Burns
  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Tony Finau
  • Matt Fitzpatrick
  • Rickie Fowler
  • Tyrell Hatton
  • Max Homa
  • Billy Horschel
  • Viktor Hovland
  • Kevin Kisner
  • Shane Lowry
  • Collin Morikawa
  • Joaquin Niemann
  • Scottie Scheffler
  • Jon Rahm
  • Xander Schauffele
  • Scottie Scheffler
  • Adam Scott
  • Jordan Spieth
  • Justin Thomas
  • Cameron Young
  • Will Zalatoris

Featured Image Credit: Getty