Tiger Woods to design second Texas golf course as PGA and LIV Golf merger talks progress

Tiger Woods is expanding his design portfolio with a second golf course in Texas, announcing a major new venture.

The 48-year-old golf icon revealed on Thursday that he’s collaborating once more with the Bluejack Ranch brand to create a new course in Aledo, Texas. On their website, Woods expressed his enthusiasm: “I’m grateful for the encore opportunity to reteam with Bluejack National and home-towners Andy and Kristin Mitchell to design a course around this incredibly special property and community.

“It’s extremely motivating for me to contribute to the golfing legacy of Fort Worth, and I’m excited to see what we’ll build together. We’ll share more after our next design meeting in Aledo.”

Amidst these developments, Woods continues to be a key figure in negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) regarding a potential merger with LIV Golf. These discussions have been active for over a year, with Woods playing a pivotal role while simultaneously pursuing other interests.

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In addition to his latest design project, Woods is also gearing up to launch a new golf league in January with fellow PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy. The innovative TGL league will showcase 24 leading PGA Tour players in weekly televised games at a purpose-built arena in Florida.

Golf legends Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have teamed up with top golf course designer Beau Welling to revolutionise the game by creating digital holes for a state-of-the-art 1,500-seater arena at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens. They’re set to light up the stage along with stars such as Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Rose.

Woods, juggling a plethora of projects including his involvement in crafting a virtual golf experience for the innovative TGL, promoting his clothing line Sun Day Red, and designing new courses, is carving out less time for traditional golf rounds. He’s running on a light schedule these days with an anticipated appearance at the Hero World Challenge on Dec.5.

While Woods may be entering the twilight of his playing career, he’s been handed the significant role of shaping golf’s future. The PGA Tour, in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), saw Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan present a stunning framework agreement last June that remains unsigned, some 18 months on.

According to ESPN, Woods had discussions with PIF representatives in New York recently.

The golf icon has been tight-lipped since giving an update at The Open Championship in July, where he hinted at positive developments, saying: “I can tell you we’re making progress. I can’t tell you more than that just because we’re not going to negotiate on the outside.”

He emphasised confidentiality and optimism about the ongoing dialogues, mentioning: “We’ve got to keep everything at a high level and private, but things are moving and things are changing… There’s a good interchange of ideas and thoughts on how the game could look going forward. It’s just a matter of putting that all together legally.”

“Obviously we have the DOJ with oversight looking into that as well and making sure that we don’t do anything improperly there, as well, but also making sure that all the players benefit from this as well as everyone who’s involved. They want to make money as well. They want to make that return.”