What Tiger Woods said about LIV Golf and the players who joined just one month after the first event back in 2022

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Tiger Woods has yet to make his PGA Tour debut in 2025, but he remains a key stakeholder in its ongoing tussle with LIV Golf.

LIV Golf and the PGA Tour are nearing a resolution, but for now the two tours remain at loggerheads with one another.

Woods appeared at the Genesis Invitational last week, a PGA Tour event that he hosts but didn’t take part in at Torrey Pines.

But a lot of his focus is also on TGL and indeed the ongoing discussions with LIV Golf, which officially came onto the scene in 2021.

The first LIV Golf tournament was, however, played in June 2022, with the Centurion Club hosting LIV Golf Invitational London.

Tiger Woods disagreed with PGA Tour players joining LIV Golf in 2022

Just one month later, the iconic St Andrews played host to the 150th Open Championship, with Woods having been asked for his thoughts on LIV in his pre-tournament press conference.

“The players who have chosen to go to LIV and to play there, I disagree with it,” said Woods. “I think what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.

“Some players have never got a chance to even experience it. They’ve gone from the amateur ranks right into that organisation and never really got a chance to play out here and what it feels like to play a tour schedule or to play in some big events.

READ MORE: What Xander Schauffele told his caddy on the last hole at Augusta when Tiger Woods won the Masters in 2019 and he was runner-up

“Who knows what’s going to happen in the near future with world ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships.

“The governing body is going to have to figure that out, and some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships, that is a possibility.

“We don’t know that for sure yet, it’s up to all the major championship bodies to make that determination, but that is a possibility that some players will never ever get a chance to play in major championships and never get a chance to experience this right here, or walk down the fairways of Augusta National.

“To me I just don’t understand it. I understand what Jack and Arnold did, because playing professional golf at a tour level versus a club pro is different, and I understand that transition and that move, and the recognition that a touring pro versus a club pro is.

“But what these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practise? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?

“You’re just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They’re playing blaring music and have all these atmospheres that are different.”

What Tiger Woods said about LIV Golf and OWGR recognition that remains true

Woods referenced LIV Golf’s potential difficulties with Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) recognition in his verdict back in 2022, with that situation remaining unchanged.

LIV Golf has previously applied for such recognition, but was denied in its application, with its events still not recognised by the OWGR.

The remarkable situation is typified by Jon Rahm falling out of the OWGR top 50, with the Spaniard having previously reached the pinnacle of men’s golf before switching to LIV.

READ MORE: Jon Rahm’s new official world golf ranking exposes major problem with the current state of the sport

“I can understand 54 holes is almost like a mandate when you get to the senior tour and the guys are little bit older and a little more banged up,” Woods continued.

“But when you’re at a young age – and some of these kids, they really are kids who have gone from amateur golf into that organisation – 72-hole tests are part of it.

“We used to have 36-hole playoffs for major championships, that’s how it used to be. 18-hole US Open playoffs.

“I just don’t see how that move is positive in the long term for a lot of these players, especially if the LIV organisation doesn’t get world ranking points and the major championships change their criteria for entering the events.

“It would be sad to see some of these young kids never get a chance to experience it and experience what we’ve got a chance to experience and walk these hallowed grounds and play in these championships.”