Tiger Woods joins another White House meeting as PGA Tour moves closer to Saudi deal

Tiger Woods joined PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott in a second White House meeting Thursday with President Donald Trump, another sign the sport is moving rapidly toward ending the division brought on by Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the financial muscle behind the rival league, also was part of the meeting.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we have initiated a discussion about the reunification of golf,” the PGA Tour said in a statement signed by Monahan, Woods and Scott.

The tour said it would share more details when appropriate, adding: “We are committed to moving as quickly as possible.”

“We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification,” the statement said. “Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans.”

Trump said later at a Black History Month reception, where he acknowledged the presence of Woods, Scott and Monahan, “We had some interesting discussions.”

Woods entered the room with Trump and went on stage with him wearing the Presidential Medal of Freedom he received from Trump in 2019. Trump prodded him to speak and those in attendance began to chant, “Tiger, Tiger.”

It was the second time in just over two weeks that PGA Tour leadership — Woods and Scott are on the board — met at the White House. Woods had to leave before the Feb. 4 meeting because his mother died in Florida. He played golf with Trump on Feb. 9.

Woods had said during the CBS broadcast of the final round at the Genesis Invitational that “we have another meeting coming up.”

“I think that things are going to heal quickly,” Woods, the tournament host, said on the Sunday broadcast. “We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years and the fans want all of us to play together, all the top players playing together, and we’re going to make that happen.”

LIV Golf launched in June 2022 and lured away several top names — Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm — over the next few years with signing bonuses reported to top $100 million in some cases.

The PGA Tour, PIF and the European tour (commercially known as the DP World Tour) signed an agreement in June 2023, but it expired at the end of the year as the Justice Department raised antitrust concerns.

The PGA Tour brought on Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of North American pro sports owners led by Fenway Sports, as a minority partner in the commercial PGA Tour Enterprises at the start of 2024 with a $1.5 billion investment.

PIF is negotiating to be a minority investor, though Monahan made it clear last week the priority was bringing all the best players together more often.

How that looks remains unclear, though Monahan did say he had a clear vision of the end product. He had said at Torrey Pines last week Trump's goal was golf “operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that one tour.”

Asked to clarify “one tour” and how that relates to LIV Golf, Monahan said it meant reunification. The statement Thursday mentioned the best players competing more often.

Currently, the top LIV players can only face Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the majority of golf's best players at the four majors. Some LIV players also have access to European tour events.

Any agreement with PIF would require approval by the PGA Tour Enterprises board, the commercial outfit that grew out of the original June 2023 framework agreement.

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

President Donald listens as Tiger Woods speaks during reception for Black History Month in the East Room of the White House Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Pool via AP)

President Donald Trump speaks as golfer Tiger Woods listens during a reception for Black History Month in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)

Adam Scott, of Australia, hits his tee shot on the seventh hole on the hole of the South Course at Torrey Pines during the first round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

FILE - Former President Donald Trump talks with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, during the first round of the LIV Golf Tournament at Trump National Golf Club, in Sterling, Va., May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Elon Musk talks with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as Governor of Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia Yasir Al-Rumayyan, right, listens before President Donald Trump speaks at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute summit in Miami Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.

Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn't possible.

“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Marks was offered the choice of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have permission to discuss the matter publicly.

Kennedy has a long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, although during his Senate confirmation hearings he seemed to say he would not undermine vaccines. He promised the chair of the Senate health committee that he would not change existing vaccine recommendations.

Since becoming commissioner, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the safety of childhood vaccinations, despite decades of evidence they are safe and have saved millions of lives.

Marks oversaw the agency’s rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.

Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort under President Donald Trump to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy. The initiative cut years off the normal development process.

Despite the project’s success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the FDA for not approving the first COVID shots even sooner. Trump told confidants after his 2020 loss that he would have been re-elected if the vaccine had been available before Election Day.

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized what he called the “firing” of Marks.

“RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks because he wouldn’t bend a knee to his misinformation campaign now allows the fox to guard the hen house," Offit said. “It’s a sad day for America’s children.”

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the issues raised in Marks' resignation letter “should be frightening to anyone committed to the importance of evidence to guide policies and patient decisions.”

“I hope this will intensify the communication across academia, industry and government to bolster the importance of science and evidence,” he wrote.

The resignation follows news Friday that HHS plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers across the country.

In a post on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy." He also faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.

The resignation is the latest blow to the beleaguered health agency, which has been rocked for weeks by layoffs, retirements and a chaotic return-to-office process that left many staffers without permanent offices, desks or other supplies. Last month, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, resigned, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP.

Marks, who could not be reached for comment, also raised concerns in his letter about “efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning” as well as the “unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation.”

He went on to detail the historic benefits of vaccinations dating back to George Washington and pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak as proof of what can happen when doubts about science take hold.

“The ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.

The measles outbreak, which could go on for months, has now spread to Kansas and Ohio after sickening more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico.

If it hits other unvaccinated communities across the U.S., as may now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak could endure for a year and threaten the nation’s status as having eliminated the local spread of the vaccine-preventable disease, public health experts said.

Casey reported from Boston. Perrone reported from Washington, D.C.

FILE - Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)