Tiger Woods Drops Bombshell on PGA Tour’s Future — And His Own Comeback Timeline

All right, good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us here at the Hero World Challenge. We're pleased to be joined by tournament host Tiger Woods as well as the executive chairman of Hero Motor Corp, Dr. Tabin Manjal. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us. Dr. Manjal, I want to turn it over to you and kick us off with some opening comments to get the week going. Thank you. My namaskar and a very good morning to all of you. The Hero World Challenge has become one of golf's most distinguished stages where precision, courage, and global talent come together. At Hero, we are proud of our enduring partnership with Tiger and this tournament, the Hero World Challenge, which continues to shape the future of the game worldwide. Now in its 11th edition, the Hero World Challenge serves as a launchpad for the next generation, giving some of the Indian origin golfers like Aaron Rye, Akshay Bhatia, Sai Thigala, Anirban Lahiri, the chance to compete among the world's elite. Each year, it strengthens the global golf community and inspires young athletes across the globe. Our partnership goes beyond just sponsorship. It reflects our leadership, our values, and our commitment to nurturing talent. With that vision, I'm delighted to announce that the prize purse for the 2025 Hero World Challenge will be US dollars 5 million. Albany has witnessed unforgettable moments, the rise of new stars, and the return of legends. This year's field promises to raise the bar yet again. I warmly welcome all the golfers and all of you to what will surely be another exceptional week. My heartfelt thanks to the teams at TGR, Hero Motor Corp, all the other sponsors and supporters, and Albany for their dedication and excellence. Thank you, Dr. Munjaul. Tiger, welcome back. This is the first time we've seen you since your recent procedure. How's the recovery going and how's it feel to be back in the Bahamas? Yeah, well, it's not as fast as I'd like it to be. You know, it was a good thing to do, something I needed to have happen, and it just takes time and dedication to the rehab process. But it's great to be back here at Albany, great to be back here hosting the Hero World Challenge, seeing some of the guys, I've only seen a few of the guys so far, hopefully get out there a little bit later today and see a few more, to have it here again at Albany under perfect conditions, weather's supposed to be perfect the entire week. Again, look for some great scores by 20 of the best players in the world, so looking forward to it. All right, with that we'll open up for questions. If you have a question, raise your hand and we will get a microphone over to you. Start over here with Rex. Tiger, I'm going to jump ahead to later this month when you turn 50. Happy early birthday, by the way. There's been a lot of speculation about what you may do next year. What are your thoughts on possibly playing the PGA Tour Champions? Yeah, I'm probably going to play probably 25 events on both tours, and I think that should cover most of the year, right? No, I'm just looking forward back to just, let me get back to playing again. I just want to, let me do that, and then I'll kind of figure out what the schedule is going to be. I'm a ways away from that part of it, and that kind of, that type of decision, that type of commitment level. Unfortunately, I've been through this rehab process before as a step-by-step, and then once I get a feel for practicing, exploding, playing, the recovery process, then I can assess where I'm going to play and how much I'll play. Follow up to that, how is the rehab? I mean, how far along are you in the rehab process? Are you chipping? Are you putting? I just got cleared last week to chip and putt, so it's good. It's been six weeks last Friday, and so it's been slow, and you can't really do much on a disc replacement. You got to let it set. You can't really do much. Now we got the OK to start, start cranking up a little bit in the gym and start strengthening and start doing a little bit more of the rotational component that I hadn't been able to do, and just letting the disc kind of set. Dr. Majal, you know, you just read out a long list of your commitments to golf, with all the players, and of course, so many tournaments, but sometimes we know you in India, but sometimes you forget that Hero's been touching new milestones all the time, 125 million, two-wheelers and bikes across 50-odd countries. What kind of plans do you have for golf and for bikes, and can you relate them to? Big plans for both Hero and golf. That's what Hero's vision is. Some of us just came back from Milan, Italy, early November, and we were all at the motorcycle show, EICMA, the biggest motorcycle show, where we showcased what the future of Hero is going to be. We showed sustainable green mobility, clean mobility, not just two wheels, not just motorcycles and scooters, but we showed what our new vision is like, what kind of concepts that we are thinking of for mobility in the future, which could be really, really far into the future. Golf, as you know, is really growing in India. We've had three really big events in the country this year. Clearly, Hero's involvement and Hero's investment in golf in India is paying off now. As you know, we've been in golf for over 25 years, and now there are other sponsors coming in, other corporates coming in, supporting the players, supporting the game, and we are seeing the fruits now. Tiger, I know you and your fellow future competition committee members have been meeting. Brian Rollap has talked about scarcity in regards to the tour schedule. From your perspective as the chair of that committee, what are the benefits for the fans? What are the benefits economically for the tour to have a reduced schedule? Well, this is fan-based. We're trying to give the fans the best product we possibly can. If we're able to give the fans the best product we can, I think that we can make the players who have equity in the tour, we can give them more of that. The financial windfall could be fantastic for everyone who's involved. The FCC has been meeting. I think we've had three different meetings. We've got one coming up here. We've torn down and looked at so many different models, Todd. It's been a lot. We've talked to title sponsors. We've talked to CMOs. We've talked to tournament directors. We've talked to media partners. We've talked to a lot of different people and taken a lot in of what they would like to see. Then it's up to us at the committee to try and put it all together and try and make it work and keep the players informed to what possibly could happen. We want their opinions as well. We're being very transparent with all of this. That's something that we've been very adamant and I have been very adamant about this process, is the transparency side of it. This is something that is going to be fantastic for all of the fans, for the players. As I said, it could be a financial windfall for everyone. As of today, I haven't had any meetings yet. I've got one later. We've had a lot. It's daily. It's a lot. As I alluded to earlier, the amount of people that we've taken their opinions from and what they would like to see and how the tour could be better and how it could be better run and how it could be more efficient. This is all fan-based, but it's also doing what is best for the players and for everyone who's involved. I know you really enjoyed playing with your son at the PNC Championship. Is there any scenario, is there a way where you could just maybe chip and putt? That's a team event. You're not going to be there? No, it wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be fair to my son, but also it wouldn't be fair to another team that could play and could have that experience that we've had for a number of years. Do you have a target? Do you want to be ready at the Genesis? As I said, I don't know. I just started to chip and putt. I just started to lift in the gym. I just started this process. A disc replacement takes time. It's not as long as a fusion, thank God, but it's going to take time. Why do you want to mount another comeback? Comeback to what point? I'd like to come back to just playing golf again. I hadn't played golf in a long time. It's been a tough year. I've had a lot of things happen on and off the golf course. It's been tough. My passion to just play, I haven't done that in a long time, just play. I've had to sit on the sidelines for a number of months, most of this year and, quite frankly, end of last year. Is the Champions Tour more realistic? As I said to Rex, I don't know. I don't know what that is. I need time to figure this out with my back and with my body. As I start to get more explosive and start to rotate and see what I've got, then I could find out or assess what tournaments I could play in, how much I should play, where I would like to play. I really haven't gone in depth of what the schedule looks like on the Champions Tour, except for a few tournaments. Even our schedule, I've been up and working on our 27-28 schedule. It's been not exactly golf-based. It's been personally golf-based. It's been about trying to do what's best for the tour. I've got a question for Tiger and one for Dr. Mujahid. Tiger, let me start with you. The last couple of years, maybe a little more, we have all marveled at what Scotty has been doing with his consistency. The one word that keeps coming back is that it's almost tiger-like. You have done it. You have been there. What's your appreciation of what Scotty has been able to do and anything that you really like about his style? There's nothing you can't not like about Scotty. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. What he's doing on the golf course is just incredible. The consistency day in and day out, the strategy, how he attacks the golf course. You can see him analyze it from the green back, where the flag is, where he wants to miss the tee shot, what club to hit, where the wind is, what side of the tee box he's going to start off on. It's truly amazing how thoughtful he is and strategic he is throughout the entire round. On top of that, he doesn't have lapses in a round, like most players do. He's there present for all 18 holes and all shots played, and that's hard to do. To do that day in and day out with the grueling schedule that the tour has and the players are playing now in more of a condensed season, and the big events that he's playing in. He's won six times, and they're not small events. He's been in the best fields, and so that's something that I certainly can appreciate, and I hope that everyone else appreciates it as well, because you just don't see this happen very often. Across the categories, Tiger, he is leading. He was the number one for this year. Is there any part of his game that you really love watching? I mean, one part of the game, of Scotty's game? Yeah, I truly love watching him hit irons. The shape shots that he hits, the trajectory, the window changes that he has, the distance control, the miss in the proper spot, the proper spin into certain pin locations. These are all subtle things that mean a lot over the course of 72 holes. That to me is impressive, and if you don't have trajectory control, then you can't have distance control, and to see him move it up and down in different windows, use wind, fight wind, and control spin is fun to watch. Dr. Manjal, you mentioned about EICMA, and I read a lot about how excited everyone was with the Novus, which was launched over there. Has motorcycle finally become a mobile, like a mobile, I mean, connected mobility as everyone is talking about, and is that a big trend going ahead for Hero? Well, I did just now mention the vision, the new vision of Hero is be the future of mobility, which clearly means it's not just going to be two wheels or motorcycles or scooters. The world is changing, the requirement for mobility is changing, the cityscapes are changing, so more and more smart mobility for us, micro mobility for us. With Novus, we've shown that it's clearly lighter, smarter, more personal, and truly, truly sustainable. Also, how do we advance without leaving the planet behind is what plays on our minds all the time, which is why you saw the three concepts that we showed at EICMA, next one, two, and three, completely different kinds of mobility. If you remember, one was just a backpack, backpack coming from Hero, who's a motorcycle maker, but that backpack is not just a simple backpack. Similarly, the other two concepts, so that's the direction we are going. We'll go over here to Paul. Hey, Tiger, you mentioned working on the 27 and 28 schedule, does 27 feel feasible for the amount of change you guys are talking about to implement this? We are trying to do that in the best way possible so we can introduce this in 27. Hopefully we get there, hopefully we get to that point, working with all of our partners, trying to create the best schedule and product and deliver on all that in 27 is something we're trying to do. I don't know if we can get there, I don't know if we will get there, but that's what we're trying to do. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts with it, obviously. Could you see a phased rollout where some stuff changes in 27 to 28 or do you want it one fell swoop? Well, again, that is one of the different concepts we're looking at as well. Rip the bandaid off, create a whole new product, do it staged. But this is one of the reasons why we've talked to all of our partners, why we've talked to all the CEOs and everyone who's involved in the game is to try and get their opinion on what would they like to see. And it's up to us at the committee level to try and figure that out. We've heard hints, Harris English a couple of weeks ago, Brian kind of addressed it a couple of days ago, possibly starting after the Super Bowl. Does that feel like something that would be important to kind of clear out or really get the most eyes on the product? We're trying to figure out what is the best schedule possible so we can create the best fields and have the most viewership and also the most fan involvement. And what does that look like? And a lot of that, as you know, that's one of the reasons why we quit playing in September and October and even early November, back when I was playing in my early days at the Tour Championship is there's this thing with a shield that's out there that's influential. And so, yeah, looking at different timetables when we might start and finish, different tent poles throughout the year and what that might look like. And we have some incredible, smart player directors, some independents and some leaders that have led in change in other sports. So trying to put all that together with Brian's leadership and stewardship, that's what we're trying to implement, all these different things. And again, create a product that the players want to be involved in, will be involved in, they're excited to be a part of, and the fans and all of our partners at all of our events and all the people are involved in the sport. This is a better product. I'm right over here to Dylan. Tiger, what have your impressions been of Brian so far? Brian's been fantastic. I was part of the search committee that was part of finding him and going through all the different interviews for about nine months to finding land on Brian and an amazing CEO, an amazing leader. What he's done so far in a short time and his leadership skills and his personality and how he handles situations, his calmness, his thoughtfulness, his directness, transparency, all the things that we were looking for and we needed on the tour, he has delivered in spades. Well, yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, we started with a blank slate. Okay. What would it look, what would be the best product we can possibly create? What would it look like? Okay. So you take a white sheet of paper and you start throwing ideas out there and there's like a thousand ideas on this board. And then you add in all the people that we interviewed and what would they like to see? Then you throw all those up there and we start in the meshing and then we start talking to the players. What would they like to see? How can players can have the promotion relegation? How can we have more player equity involvement? These are all things that we're trying to include and all the things that we're trying to change. Yes, there's going to be some eggs that are spilled and crushed and broken, but I think that in the end, we're going to have a product that is far better than what we have now for everyone involved. Tiger, going back to the work of the FCC, the idea of scarcity, which Todd asked you about, and parody would be the other tenet that Brian has talked about. Those two things seem to be mutually exclusive. How do you balance those two things where you want less? Parody is something that is inherent in the game of golf because of the meritocracy of the game. It's just there. We play each and every week starting at zero. With the parody part, it was the easiest part to figure out because it's already there. Now, the simplicity part, that's another part that you didn't say that we have to try and simplify. Simplify the point structure of the FedEx Cup so that not only the players understand it, but the fans can understand it. What goes on every week, week to week, how they can follow and how we can make it better. A scarcity thing is something that I know scares a lot of people, but I think that if you have scarcity at a certain level, it'll be better because it'll drive more eyes because there'll be less time, but don't forget the golfing year is long. There's other opportunities and other places around the world or other places to play that can be created and have events. There's a scarcity side of it that's not as scary as people might think. Is the Ryder Cup captaincy for 2027 a job that you would like to pursue? No one's asked me about it. I'm asking you about it. No one's asked me about it. Did you watch any of the Ryder Cup? I watched pretty much all of it and was talking to the players and the captains involved in it and everyone involved on the U.S. side. Going back to your back, was there a moment when you realized I'm going to need to have another surgery? Not a moment. It just regressed and I had a procedure last year in September to give me a little bit of buy me a little time, but unfortunately I blew my achilles at the beginning of the year, so that sent me back and then as I tried to come back, my back was feeling wonky. I did an MRI and it didn't look very good, so I decided to have a procedure. Well, I won't be able to play in the first part of the TGL season, but I will be there at every match that Jupiter Lynx competes in. Now, hopefully that I will be able to maybe play at the end of the season here and there, but I don't know. I don't. I just started chipping and putting, so I gotta hit more shots than just a chip and putt in TGL. There's a few drives I might have to hit. It's been very different. The recruiting process now, it's you have cell phones. We didn't have cell phones. We had written letters that would show up and be in the mailbox and it's like, oh my god, I got a letter. It's just very different how fast coaches can communicate with the family members and the player that's trying to recruit. It's just a different world and I'm not saying it's good or bad. It's just different and it's fun to be a part of the process with Charlie and go through it and see where the opportunities that he has created for himself by playing better. The places that he could play, wants to play, and ultimately will decide where he wants to go play. All right, we have time for a few more. Go back to Swami. Tiger, I mean this event is like a kind of a window or a showpiece of elite golfers in the world and yet every year over the past three or four years, we've been seeing a few debutants and new names like Chris this year, Spawn this year, before that we had Tom Kim and quite a few others. Would you say that golf is in such a space that is producing a lot of new golfers coming into a space that was like once held by you, Phil, and so many others, Ernie, etc. So would you say that there's a lot of young talent? I would say that there's a generational change and shift that's happened. The guys that I played with when we first had the world challenge early in the 2000s, I'm the youngest one and I'm about ready to turn 50, so those guys are all in the champion's tour or even retired from the game of golf. They don't play anymore. There's a generational shift. The game has gotten younger, stronger, and faster and bigger. It's fun to see. There are more top players at a younger age than ever before and a lot of them are now able to play and get themselves into the top 50, which then allows them to get into this event. Some have gotten into as high as the top 10. The game has gotten younger. It really has. When I first came out on tour, you had to serve at least four or five years before you had the experience of playing golf courses enough times. Then you have to pay your of losing a bunch and then ultimately winning probably in your late 20s. That model doesn't exist anymore. These kids come out of college ready to play or even sometimes skip college and they're ready to play even earlier. The age of the game of golf out here at the tour level has become younger. I think the reason is the fact that in my vision, I think a lot has to do with seeing swings. Before I had VHS tapes, I would tape a weekend round of golf and then watch it. Hopefully the tracking worked halfway decent and try and get a swing. Sometimes the swings didn't even look good. I didn't even know who that was. Seeing so many different swings over and over again and the instructional level has gotten better, the curve it took to understand how to play the game has gotten faster. You didn't have to necessarily go out there and dig it out of the dirt. Now you can watch it on your mobile phone and learn that way. It's gotten faster and younger. Just like all kids, they're sponges for information and they can make changes on the fly. I was talking to Rory about Hero Indian Open and the one thing he said was that he really wants to play at DLF, given the kind of course it is. But he said that date really doesn't work out for him two weeks before the Masters. He said that he's going to text you and talk to you about it. I don't know if he did that or not. But is there any plans to change the dates of Hero Indian Open so that more guys like Tiger can come and play the tournament in India? Well, I wish Rory had spoken to me when he was in Delhi. We could all have spoken to IGU and to the DP World Tour and maybe done something about it. Nevertheless, I know there are a lot of players who would like to come to the Hero Indian Open in Mars, but they have other commitments. The Masters is coming up in a couple of weeks, but they are not able to make it there. If you recollect, we used to have the Hero Indian Open later in the year, in October-November. Now that you remind me, we will do something about it. We'll discuss with all the tour and IGU. Tiger was supposed to come during the pandemic. Unfortunately, the pandemic came and then everything moved away. I'm hoping. I'm still hoping. Me too. We have time for two more. We'll go Paul and then Todd. Tiger, just wanted to ask you quickly about RIV. This might be the last time we talked to you about that before the tournament. What's that process been like over the last year, knowing you're coming back to a place that obviously couldn't hold the tournament last year? So much devastation. Just bringing it back, the importance of doing that, and what that process has been like over the last year. The impact of those fires on the entire community and the entire Pacific Palisades area was devastating. We were lucky enough to be able to have the tour, San Diego come together, the mayor and all the municipalities in the area come together and figure it out. There were so many different options of where we could play and to already have a build out there at Farmers and to use their signage and all the camera crews there for Genesis. It just worked out. We got very lucky. My staff worked countless hours. They were burnt out. We had to send a few home just for a couple of days to see their family and then it's 24-7, get back on it. It was all hands on deck to try and figure it all out and to be able to go back to RIV this year under different circumstances than the last year. It'll be better. I think it'll be celebratory. Something that is a place that's near and dear to my heart and I'm looking forward to getting back there. I'll tell you a couple things. Number one, you are a global player. I don't know if this was on the board that you were talking about in those committee meetings, but are you satisfied with the tour's international schedule? Would you like to see the tour more globally? Well, we're focused on trying to do what's best for our product in the PGA Tour. Yes, we have other events outside the United States that are either co-sanctioned with other governing bodies, but right now we're focused on what we're trying to do here first. Yes, by doing what's best here, we're able to create more opportunities globally and also even domestically as well. So if we do our job correctly, we're going to open up a lot of different other opportunities that will be better for all the players that are involved, other tours that are involved. I know I'm not really saying a lot, but I'm trying to say as much as I possibly can because there's so many moving parts to this and it changes all the time. We're trying to create, yes, other global opportunities for our players, for other tours to enhance their tours, enhance their product, but I think it all starts with the best tour on the planet, which is ours. And finally, we saw you represent the PGA Tour in the competitive battle with Liv and Piff. You talked about being on the search committee to find Brian. You're chairing the future competitions committee. I'd like to know personally, what is your motivation to contribute heavily to the strength of the PGA Tour? Well, the PGA Tour gave me an opportunity to chase after a childhood dream and I got a chance to hit my first ball in my first PGA Tour event when I was 16 years old. I know that's what, 33 years ago, but I've been involved with the PGA Tour ever since then. A little kid from Cyprus, California, growing up on a par-3 course, got a chance to play against the best players in the world and make it to the world number one. And I got a chance to be involved in a lot of different things on our tour and this is a different opportunity to make an impact on the tour. I did it with my golf clubs and made a few putts here and there and was able to do that. Now I'm able to make an impact in a different way for other generations to come, not just generations that I played against, but for future generations like a 16-year-old looking for a place to play and maybe in hopes of playing PGA Tour. All right, Tiger, Dr. Manjal, thank you very much for the time and let's have a great week.