PGA Tour is bringing so much drama to Memphis, maybe Tiger Woods finally shows

MEMPHIS — There were two bits of news recently, six days apart, that might have escaped notice if you haven’t been following the particulars of the ongoing tug of war for professional golf’s soul. But they very well could change how the FedEx St. Jude Championship is remembered this year.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan revealed in a recent memo there are plans for a meeting with golfers Tuesday in Memphis. It will be Monahan’s first in-person interaction with a large group of them since the initial days after the clumsy and abrupt announcement in June that the Tour wants to join forces with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund.

And Tiger Woods was officially added last week to the PGA Tour’s policy board, which helps determine the Tour’s governance structure, at the request of other high-profile golfers, most notably Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.

Put those details together, and there’s an intriguing possibility worth pondering as tournament week begins in Memphis.

The PGA Tour is bringing so much of its drama this week, maybe even Woods will show up at TPC Southwind for the first time.

Not to play in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, of course. That became all but impossible the moment he got in that car accident two years ago and nearly lost his leg. His body won’t allow him to play the number of tournaments he would need to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Memphis last year transitioned to a playoff event.

But he could hop on that private jet of his, land at Wilson Air Center and head over to TPC Southwind instead of Zooming in for the meeting. Almost 27 years after turning professional, it would be the closest Woods has ever come to being part of this tournament, which has so much tradition and goodwill attached to it because of its longevity and its partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

There’s precedent, too

Last August, Woods showed up in Delaware ahead of the BMW Championship for a crucial players-only meeting as the PGA Tour’s feud with LIV Golf kept escalating.

That was before he had an official leadership role like he does now, and just a couple of days after the conclusion of an especially awkward 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Cam Smith, on the heels of winning the Open Championship, had to sidestep questions about his impending departure for LIV Golf, while the defending champion in Memphis last year, Abraham Ancer, already had defected from the PGA Tour and couldn’t participate.

So if this is going to be a little weird again, if this is going to distract from the actual tournament because the PGA Tour is still sorting through the sport’s reckoning, at least maybe we can get a cameo from Woods on the property.

As far as public appearances, he has been to Memphis only once, for a 1997 youth clinic at the Pine Hill Golf Course (now the Links at Pine Hill) after he won the Masters for the first time.

“Find a room and a microphone,” FedEx St. Jude Championship executive director Joe Tomek said of what the tournament’s role will be Tuesday. “It makes sense. You have the top players in the world here all in one place together.”

The uncertainty surrounding this week mirrors what is surrounding the entire PGA Tour. Since last visiting Memphis, its leaders have had to sit in front of the U.S. Senate to explain why this merger with the Saudis’ PIF that nobody wants to call a merger is even legal. Nobody is quite sure what the future holds for the sport. Certainly not the golfers.

Much like college sports at the moment, the money has become more important than anything else – to the detriment of the fans.

That’s why there’s going to be a meeting Tuesday. Everybody was blindsided in June after a year spent treating LIV Golf as the enemy. This, along with placing Woods on the policy board, is an attempt to mend the rift between the golfers and the people who run golf.

Woods, it’s clear, can help dictate terms because he’s still the biggest name in the sport by a country mile. Flying to Memphis could help the cause. For us, though, it would give this tournament the biggest star it has never been able to wrangle, however brief his time at TPC Southwind might be.

“It hadn’t really crossed my mind,” Tomek said. “My understanding is probably not. It’s just Jay and the players here.”

Then he thought about it a little more.

“But who knows? Tiger finally comes to Memphis. I don’t know.”