Tiger Woods will reach the age of fifty on December 30th, facing doubts about his sporting future due to injuries, but as a key business figure who will define the course of a PGA Tour undergoing restructuring to compete with LIV Golf.
Newly appointed chairman of the PGA Tour's new Future Competition Committee, Woods faces the difficult challenge of designing a more valuable circuit to compete against a rival financed by Saudi Arabia's all-powerful Public Investment Fund.
Woods' authority as a symbol of the sport, as well as his business success, which has made him one of the few athletes to amass a fortune of over $1 billion, support his appointment.
Tiger Woods, results
The golfer is leading a new working group that seeks to improve a product that has lost several of its key assets, such as Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson, among others, since the creation of the 54th Tour in 2022.
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The unexpected emergence of this tour and the subsequent talent drain forced the PGA Tour to restructure its business, a process that began with the creation of PGA Tour Enterprises, a new commercial entity backed by a $1.5 billion investment from the American consortium Strategic Sports Group (SSG).
This agreement made the tour's stars direct shareholders in the business, following the 'athlete ownership' model that Woods himself has already implemented in some of his ventures.
The goal to regain fan interest involves a thorough reorganization of the schedule. With next year's events already announced, the big change is expected to happen in 2027.
"We're working with all of our partners to create the best schedule and product to deliver all of that in 2027," Woods said during a press conference before the Hero World Challenge, which took place in early December in the Bahamas.
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Some ideas being considered include starting the season in February to avoid competing for viewers with the NFL, or reducing the number of annual eventsexcluding the four majorsto around 20, American golfer Harris English indicated in November.
In comparison, the 2026 season will begin on January 15 in Hawaii and will feature 38 events.
Amid this restructuring, Woods the athlete remains in the background, hampered by injuries. The 2024 British Open, played in July of last year, was his last appearance in a professional tournament.
The golfer has undergone a series of surgeries since then. He first had back surgery in September 2024, then ruptured his left Achilles tendon in March, and last October underwent another surgery to replace a lumbar disc.
During the Hero World Challenge, which he was unable to participate in, he stated that his recovery is progressing more slowly than desired and said he is "a long way off" from knowing what the future holds for 2026.
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This period of inactivity has given him time to focus on his business ventures, which fall under the umbrella of TGR Ventures: the operational center of Woods' business empire.
The company's main investments include golf course design, organizing and promoting golf tournaments, and managing other investments such as restaurant chains.
Woods is also the co-founder, along with golfer Rory McIlroy, of TMRW Sports, a business holding company valued at around $500 million that is behind the Technology Golf League, a new team golf league that combines live action with simulation technology.
One of Woods's latest entrepreneurial ventures occurred in January 2024, when he ended a 27-year partnership with Nike to launch his own clothing brand: Sun Day Red.
Created a month after his split with Nike, which for decades had featured the golfer as one of its leading figures, Sun Day Red launched its first collection that same May, marking the transition from sponsored athlete to brand owner.
