Tiger Woods broke cover with a trip to the White House last week to discuss Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia with the President, it has been claimed.
Woods hadn’t been seen for weeks until a surprise picture of the 15-time Major winner with Senator Jim Banks surfaced on social media last week.
The 49-year-old has been keeping a lower profile since news of his relationship with Vanessa Trump, Donald’s ex-daughter-in-law, was broken by Daily Mail days after Woods revealed he had torn his Achilles – news that places fresh concern over his long-term career in golf.
Now, according to Golfweek, Woods made the visit to the White House in his role as a player director on the PGA Tour. He wanted to make sure Trump would stay ‘on message’ on his Saudi trip, the report says, amid golf’s ongoing civil war between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV circuit.
The PGA want to merge with LIV but only on their terms – likely one that will not see LIV have a future in the years to come – but while a framework deal was agreed in June 2023 for unification, things haven’t progressed much past that.
Trump said he could end the standoff between the two tours in ’15 minutes’ when he was on the campaign trail last year but while the two tours have held talks, a deal is still yet to be struck.
Tiger Woods posed for a picture with Senator Jim Banks on a White House visit on Thursday
President Donald Trump and Tiger Woods (in 2019) have been friendly for more than a decade
It was one of the first time Woods has been seen since going public with Vanessa Trump
LIV has repeatedly hosted events in the United States on Trump’s courses, while the President is also known to be very close with a number of players on both tours – including Woods, who he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to in 2019.
Trump received a lavish welcome upon landing in Saudi Arabia, where Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s provided an honorary escort for Air Force One as it approached the kingdom’s capital.
He had lunch at the Royal Court at Al Yamamah Palace and gave a speech to emphasize the prospect of economic prosperity between the gulf nation and the United States.
‘I really believe we like each other a lot,’ hinting at more deals between the two countries in the future.
As for PGA and LIV, ESPN said in April that the PGA Tour rejected a $1.5billion offer by LIV to invest on the basis that LIV remains intact.
Speaking at The Masters last month, golfing legend Tom Watson cast doubt over the prospect of a deal to reunify the game in the near future.
‘They made their choice to play their own tour, and that’s where they are right now,’ he said.
‘I don’t see a real working mechanism for the two tours to get back together. I think that’s one of the reasons you haven’t seen an agreement since June two years ago.
Woods, 49, announced the big news about his love life days after he tore his Achilles
But players from both tours are gathered in North Carolina this week for the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, the second major of the year.
‘The players would like to get together,’ Watson added in April. ‘But it’s really up to the powers that be to see if there’s a framework in which the two tours can cooperate.’
It remains to be seen what Trump comes back with from his trip. At present, he is in Qatar and will also go to the United Arab Emirates before returning.
Woods, meanwhile, is not expected to be in Carolina this week and there has been little news on how his Achilles recovery is continuing. The picture he had taken with Senator Banks did not show whether he was wearing a protective boot, as is common in the earlier stages of recovery after surgery,
Trump has given Woods his blessing over his relationship with Vanessa, telling reporters in the Oval Office back in late March: ‘I love Tiger and I love Vanessa. He and I have a very special, very good relationship.
‘He told me about it, and I said, “Tiger, that’s good, that’s good.” I’m very happy for both. Just let them both be happy. Let them both be happy. They’re both great.’
