The PGA Tour has unveiled a series of changes, but not the one that Tiger Woods has been advocating for years.
Since the launch of LIV Golf in 2021, backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the PGA has been in competition with the new tour.
While golfers like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson have jumped ship to sign lucrative deals with the rival group, 48 year old Woods has stayed loyal to the PGA. In an effort to keep up with LIV, the PGA has announced several alterations to their operations, including smaller fields.
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However, the change that Woods and most golfers are clamoring for – the option to play in shorts – is not on the cards. Currently, all PGA players must compete in trousers, even in hot climates like Florida and South Africa.
Unfortunately for Woods and his colleagues, the PGA is not budging on this issue. In a 2018 interview, when asked if he’d prefer to play in shorts, Woods responded: “I would love it. We play in some of the hottest climates on the planet.”
He added, “We usually travel with the sun, and a lot of our events are in the summer, and then on top of that when we have winter months here, a lot of the guys will go down to South Africa and Australia where it’s summer down there.
“A lot of the tournaments are based right around the equator, so we play in some of the hottest places on the planet. It would be nice to wear shorts. Even with my little chicken legs, I still would like to wear shorts.”
LIV Golf allows players to wear shorts in competition. Koepka has previously spoken out about how much he enjoys playing in shorts saying: “It’s so much nicer”.
Woods and other PGA stars would have been happy to see many of the new amendments to PGA rules and competitions. In October, the PGA Tour Players Advisory Council proposed a wide range of changes to the competitive structure of the tour.
Before revealing what they had changed, a statement from the PGA Tour Policy Board said: “The PGA Tour Policy Board today approved competitive changes supported by the Player Advisory Council (PAC) that will deliver a stronger and more competitive and entertaining PGA Tour to fans, players, tournaments and partner.”
