Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were kept in the dark about the secret deal to end golf’s civil war

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy did not find out about the secret deal to end golf’s civil war until the day it was announced, it has emerged.

In a development that will raise eyebrows and potentially pile pressure onto Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner confirmed the two biggest active names in the sport were kept in the dark throughout the extraordinary negotiations to broker peace with the Saudi-backed LIV series.

It was only a short while before the bombshell merger was disclosed that they were informed, which throws up the powderkeg issue of how they might react. Both men have been staunch opponents of LIV, especially McIlroy, and each rejected eye-watering sums to join the breakaway circuit.

In Woods’ case, the package was worth north of £650million and the carrot dangled for McIlroy was in the region of £400m. Having shunned those astonishing sums, while also doing the PGA Tour’s bidding in speaking out against LIV’s hostile takeover, golf insiders are fascinated to see how they will publicly respond to Tuesday’s unification.

When asked if there was any regret in not informing his two star names in advance, Monahan said: ‘Listen, again, what we’ve agreed to here is a framework agreement, and the binding elements are tied to the litigation. A lot of these details we’ve got to work through.

‘If we had announced a definitive agreement this morning and I was calling them in the morning and I had made commitments on behalf of the PGA Tour and not had an opportunity to fully vet them with our policy board and with those two individuals in a larger group, then that would be a complete miss on my part, and I recognize that.

‘But this was us reaching a framework agreement. We think it’s the right agreement. Obviously Tiger and Rory’s perspective is one that I understand very well, and it was part of my thinking throughout these conversations, and it will be a part of my thinking going forward.

‘Now that we’re in a framework agreement, I look forward to talking to all of our players, including the two of them, to make certain that this comes off the right way.’

Monahan’s position is now under immense scrutiny. 

It is understood the mood at the players’ meeting at the Canadian Open, attended by McIlroy, was aggressive, with top golfers furious at learning the developments via press release and social media. 

There is also significant anger that a Tour they sided with and supported, rather than jettison for personal gain, has now welcomed the Saudi Arabian billions, with pathways in place for LIV rebels to return to the traditional tours having already cashed in. Monahan admitted the meeting was ‘intense’ and ‘heated’.

More broadly, he stands accused of hypocrisy for accepting the deal alongside the DP World Tour and has been viewed as the surrendering of global golf to Saudi Arabia. Monahan has previously slammed the morality of accepting Saudi money and pointed to the Kingdom’s links to 9/11. 

Those comments have returned to bite him.

He said: ‘I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite. Anytime I said anything, I said it with the information that I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players. I accept those criticisms. But circumstances do change. I think that in looking at the big picture and looking at it this way, that’s what got us to this point.’