Tiger Woods hasn’t been shy about his criticism of LIV Golf, or of the players joining LIV.
Woods believes that LIV golfers were “turning their back” on the PGA Tour and has been openly critical of the Saudi-backed venture, which reportedly offered him a jaw-dropping amount of money. And while Woods has been open about his criticism, he’s taken a more curious stance in private conversations, according to Talor Gooch.
Gooch, who has back-to-back wins at LIV Golf Adelaide and LIV Golf Singapore, recently revealed on the Fore The People podcast his private conversations with Woods during the Masters last month at Augusta National.
Here’s what he had to say on the matter, as transcribed by Golf.com:
“So I have kind of a funny story,” Gooch said on the podcast. “So at Augusta, one of the mornings I was warming up, Tiger was right next to me warming up. And he was like, man, you’re with Bubba’s team now, right? And I was like, yeah. He’s like, you all are going to Adelaide, right? I’m like, yeah. He goes, man, they got some great golf there.
“And then he’s, have you ever been to Singapore? I was like, man, first time. And he’s like, man, you need to go to the casino at Marina Bay Sands. It’s the famous hotel casino here; you’ve all seen it, for sure. It looks like there’s a boat on top of three towers. It’s this massive casino hotel. And the shops and everything. So anyways, Tiger’s like, first time I was in Singapore, I had to do this clinic there, right? And he’s like, I got introduced to the guy who basically owns the Disney of Asia, and he had to be there for whatever reason. And so he’s like, this guy is like, hey, do you want to go get some dinner tonight? My favorite place in Singapore is at this hotel casino. And then, do you like to gamble at all? And Tiger’s like, a little bit. And so, he said, I want to teach you how to play baccarat. And Tiger’s like, we go over there and this guy starts out playing million-dollar hands. And so, Tiger’s like, this was earlier in my career, I quickly learned the difference between being rich, and being rich rich. I was like …”
There are two sides to every story, but according to Gooch’s tale of events, Woods seems to be not only taking a curious approach but paying attention to the professional golf tour that he rebuked.
We shouldn’t draw any conclusions from a second-hand conversation, but it is certainly intriguing when considering the comments Woods had made publicly. Though, perhaps, he was trying to be friendly with Gooch given the bad blood between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
