PGA Tour and LIV Golf representatives, including Tiger Woods, are set to meet in-person in New York on Friday as they bid to strike a deal to end the game’s power struggle.

Thursday marks a year to the day that the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV announced they would try and merge in news that shook the sport to its core.

Progress since then has been slow but according to The New York Times, key figures from both sides are now set to meet in New York on Friday. The report says that ‘both sides caution that a breakthrough is far from imminent.’

Woods is expected to be joined by John Henry, the Liverpool FC and Boston Red Sox owner who is on the PGA Tour’s transaction committee.

The Times says Rory McIlroy, one of LIV’s most vociferous critics before the merger news came out, will be joining the call remotely as he is playing in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield. McIlroy tees off for his second round at 9:55am local time.

Woods, a member of the PGA Tour policy board, recently hosted a meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan – the governor of PIF, which funds LIV, in the Bahamas.

Adam Scott, another PGA Tour player director, said earlier this week that talks between the PGA and LIV would advance soon.

‘I think the PGA Tour has a vision of what it wants to look like 12, 18 (months) and then going forward, five, 10 and 20, you know, or at least 10 years down the line, let’s say, and what it should evolve into,’ he said to Golfweek.

‘But at the moment there’s another party that they’re negotiating with that has to believe in that vision as well, and I don’t know exactly what their vision is.

‘I think we are getting there, for sure. Eventually someone is going to have to put it out exactly what it is, and I think that will happen very soon. You have to break the ice, kind of, and someone has to show a hand. It’s got to happen soon. It’s moving along as quickly as it can.’

Last month, McIlroy admitted he is ‘concerned’ that the merger talks are heading for the rocks.

The world No 2 has transformed into a strong advocate for Saudi investment as a means of ending the hostilities with LIV.

But following the resignation from the Tour’s policy board of Jimmy Dunne, the investment banker who had orchestrated last year’s framework agreement between the warring parties, McIlroy’s hopes of seeing a unified game seem to have plummeted.

Dunne chose to stand down because ‘no meaningful progress’ had been made despite almost a year of negotiations, while also inferring that too much power had been placed in the hands of a select group of player directors, including Woods, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay.

Speaking ahead of the US PGA Championship, McIlroy said: ‘Honestly I think it’s a huge loss for the PGA Tour (that Dunne is leaving the process), if they are trying to get this deal done with the PIF.

‘Jimmy was basically “the” relationship, the sort of conduit between the Tour and PIF. It’s been really unfortunate that he has not been involved for the last few months, and I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that.

‘So it is really, really disappointing, and you know, I think the Tour is in a worse place because of it. We’ll see where it goes from here and we’ll see what happens.

‘But you know, I would say my confidence level on something getting done before last week was as low as it had been and then with this news of Jimmy resigning and knowing the relationship he has with the other side, and how much warmth there is from the other side, it’s concerning.’

Not for the first time in his career, fans are concerned about the welfare of Tiger Woods after he featured in an interview for his charity foundation in Las Vegas.

The 48-year-old was in Sin City for a poker event alongside professional player Phil Hellmuth and gaming streamer Ninja as part of his charity TGR Foundation, the non-profit he founded in 1996.

In a video clip posted by Hellmuth on Friday, Woods wore a groggy expression on his face and his cheeks appeared to be swollen.

“I’m so proud of Tiger at the TGR foundation, we’re doing Tiger‘s poker night,” Hellmuth said in the video uploaded to X. “We’re going to raise a million, maybe $2million dollars. It’s a really nice event.”

But as Woods spoke in the video, he struggled to get his words out coherently and it wasn’t difficult for fans to notice. Hellmuth praised his charity work and asked him for his favorite moment, to which he replied: “It’s the stories that the kids come back and tell.

“The first generation to ever go to college. Parents said you’d never go to college, grandparents say you’d never go to college, it’s useless. All of a sudden, they’re in college flourishing, going to Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Yale, going to amazing places doing amazing things. One of our girls … she’s one of the directors who landed one of the rovers on Mars.”

Fans think Tiger Woods was intoxicated

The clip only lasted for 90 seconds, but it was enough to cause some concern amongst his fans, who made their thoughts clear on social media – with some suggesting he may have been under the influence.

One user wrote: “damn, I hope Tiger is OK…”, while another said: “Tiger looks so sauced!!” another user replied.

Collin Morikawa spent some quality time with Tiger Woods last week in Las Vegas for ‘Tiger Jam,’ the fundraiser for the TGR Foundation.

Morikawa said the 15-time major can hit any shot he wants to, but as the golfing world knows, the biggest knock on Woods right now is that he struggles to walk for 18 holes—let alone for four straight days.

And yet, Morikawa explained why Woods would never request to use a golf cart during a major or a PGA Tour event.

“His ego’s pretty big, as is all of ours,” Morikawa said ahead of the Memorial Tournament.

“I just think he wants to keep [playing] until he can’t, and maybe there’s something about a golf cart that’s just ain’t it. I would be taking a golf cart if they allowed me. I would love to.”

The PGA Tour Champions—the circuit for players 50 and older—allows its members to use a golf cart if they receive ADA clearance. Bernhard Langer recently did so, which explains why the 66-year-old can still compete, even though he tore his Achilles in February. Langer also said that he “can’t walk,” and yet, he came close to winning last week at the Principal Charity Classic.

Woods, who is 18 years younger than Langer, uses a cart when practicing at home, but has never utilized one during tournament play. He insists on walking like everyone else, but nobody has to work like he does just to stroll a golf course.

But nobody has an ego like Woods, either.

 In a sport beset by change, recent and unwelcome

, a nostalgic comfort is found in one thing that remains familiar after all these years.

There’s still nothing like watching Tiger Woods hit a golf ball.

“His skill level, his talent is still just mesmerizing,” said fellow PGA Tour golfer Max Homa.

The Big Cat isn’t back. Not by his standards.

But he’s here.

Woods, 48, is teeing it up at this week’s PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he won this tournament in 2000 – literally half a lifetime ago. His appearance is a rare treat for golf fans who’ve grow accustomed to seldom seeing him prowl the links anymore.

Since July 2022, Woods has played in only five PGA Tour events – and he withdrew from two.

The competitive spirit is willing, but physically? That’s his question, and it isn’t going away.

Woods said Tuesday his body feels “OK.” That he is “always going to feel soreness and stiffness in my back.” That he wishes his “game was a little sharper,” because, after all, he doesn’t play much. He also said that he appreciates all this more, also because he doesn’t play much.

And yet, Woods said this, too, like a man who meant it: “I still feel that I can win golf tournaments.”

“I still feel I can hit the shots,” he said. “I still feel like I have my hands around the greens, and I can putt. I just need to do it for all four days.”

For anyone old enough to remember Woods in his prime, it’s odd – and, frankly, a little sad – to imagine him sitting at the site of a major tournament, having to convince anyone of his capacity to play golf at the highest level.

Being a massive underdog, it doesn’t suit Woods, given the unmistakable aura and massive crowds that accompany his every step on a golf course. But at the same time, it’d be truly stunning for him to repeat his previous PGA win here at Valhalla. Too many of those steps on this golf course.

Old baseball pitchers will tell you, years after retiring, that they’d still be capable of heating up their arms for one, good, vintage performance. The trouble would come with asking their aging arms to keep doing it again and again against younger competition.

Woods figures to still be capable of one special shot or putt or round, “but when that energy and that adrenaline wears off either sometime Thursday or Friday, what does he have after that?” said Curtis Strange, former golfer-turned-ESPN-analyst.

Last month, Woods made the cut at The Masters with rounds of 73 and 72, but he followed it with disappointing rounds of 82 and 77 to finish at 16-over-par, last among those who golfed into the weekend in Augusta.

“Getting around is more of the difficulty that I face, day to day, and the recovery, pushing myself either in practice or on competitive days,” Woods said. “I mean, you saw it at Augusta. I was there after two days and didn’t do very well on the weekend.”

The head tells you he has no chance, but the heart wants to listen to Homa, who played alongside Woods for those first two rounds at The Masters.

“It’s always going to be crazy to think he’d win another one,” Homa said, “but watching him play those two days at Augusta, I very much thought he could win another golf tournament. …

“I’d put nothing past him at this point.”

Fans tuning into the PGA championship this week may do a double take when they see Tiger Woods hit the green on Thursday.

The 48-year-old arrived to Valhalla golf club on Sunday to partake in a practice session ahead of his return to the Kentucky golf course for the second golf major of the year.

The event’s official social media account shared footage of Woods arrival, showing him getting in some practice shots on the social platform X.

However it wasn’t his swing or shots which drew attention to him, instead it was the unexpected and uncharacteristic facial here he was rocking.

The golf veteran who is usually sporting a clean shave showed that his lifelong decision to not have a beard was voluntary as he showed off a full grown goatee.

Whether or not the five-time Masters winner will keep the goatee for the tournament or shave it off before Thursday is unknown.

Many were expecting Woods would show up this week at the Kentucky venue as the golf pro indicated after the Masters that he was planning to play in this year’s PGA Championship.

Woods is very familiar with Valhalla as he is a former champion and will be hoping he can imitate that success this week.

Woods claimed his maiden and only victory at the course in 2000 when he beat Bob May in a three-hole playoff in the PGA Championship.

The American will be hoping to find glory once again in Louisville however he comes up against one of strongest fields in golf.

2024 Masters winner Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm are few of the other heavyweights in golf who will line out in Louisville this week.

For fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Wood’s new look, the Northern Irish man will be teeing off at 9am on Wednesday, May 15 in the first round of the competition.

Woods will be in for a treat if he manages to find form once again as the winner gets a sizeable amount from the $17million prize pot.

The payout for this year’s competition is expected to increase from last year’s tournament which saw Brooks Koepka finish top of the leader board to claim the $3,150,000 prize.

While Scottie Scheffler looks to match the dominance of Tiger Woods on the course, the 15-time major champion is still the key to generating business for stakeholders away from the links.

Woods will be helping lead negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia about becoming another minority investor in PGA Tour Enterprises. The Strategic Sports Group has already invested $1.5 billion in the newly formed for-profit entity