Tiger Woods slammed by 9/11 families for 'disgusting and unacceptable' meeting with LIV Golf's Saudi backers in New York - a day before anniversary

Tiger Woods has been slammed for his 'disgusting and unacceptable' decision to meet with LIV Golf's Saudi Arabian backers in New York City just a day before the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The golf legend and other PGA Tour leaders are reportedly meeting with LIV Golf's Saudi backers this week.

A X flight tracking account radaratlas2 discovered that private jets owned by Woods, Saudi oil and gas firm Aramco and the PGA Tour all landed in New York on Monday.

But 9/11 Justice president Brett Eagleson released a damning statement criticizing Woods for taking the meeting just a day before the anniversary of the attacks.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed when al-Qaida hijackers crashed four jetliners into the twin towers, the Pentagon and a field in southwest Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. 

Fifteen of the 19 September 11 attackers were Saudis but the Saudi government has always denied being involved in the attacks.

Eagleson, who at the age of 15 lost his father in the South Tower, wrote: 'Tomorrow, we commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, yet here we are today, in New York City, down the street from Ground Zero, and the PGA Tour and Tiger Woods are negotiating with them.

'As has been confirmed in the last few weeks by CBS News reporting, the Saudi Arabian government played a role in the horrific attacks of 9/11.

'It is disgusting, unacceptable, and incredibly painful that the Tour and Woods would do this—especially now.'

9/11 Justice have long accused Saudi Arabia of aiding the terrorists who carried out the attacks and have been frequent critics of LIV Golf.

In 2022, they condemned former President Donald Trump for hosting the Saudi-backed tour at his New Jersey course, telling him they felt 'extreme pain, frustration and anger' as a result of his decision to host a tournament.

Both sides of golf's bitter divide are hoping to finally thrash out a deal following the announcement of their shock merger in June 2023. According to ESPN, the talks are set to last 'multiple days'. 

The talks are thought to focus on sealing a deal for $1billion to be put into PGA Tour Enterprises by the PIF. 

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said last month that a deal with the PIF remains a priority, though he said there was no deadline. It comes after the deadline for an agreement expired on December 31.

'I don't think we want to restrict ourselves in that way,' Monahan said at the season-ending Tour Championship. 'We want to achieve the best and right outcome at the right time.

'I think when you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations. I think that's where things stand.' 

It was announced last week that Rory McIlroy is set to team up with Scottie Scheffler against the LIV pair of Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in a match that brings golf's festering civil war to the course.

The idea to pit the best of the rival circuits against one another has regularly been mooted across the past year and has now been scheduled in a made-for-television showdown in Las Vegas in December.