PGA Tour is bringing so much drama to FedEx St. Jude Championship

MEMPHIS — There were two bits of news recently, six days apart, that might have escaped notice if you haven’t been following the particulars of the ongoing tug of war for professional golf’s soul. But they very well could change how the FedEx St. Jude Championship is remembered this year.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan revealed in a recent memo there are plans for a meeting with golfers Tuesday in Memphis. It will be Monahan’s first in-person interaction with a large group of them since the initial days after the clumsy and abrupt announcement in June that the Tour wants to join forces with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund.

And Tiger Woods was officially added last week to the PGA Tour’s policy board, which helps determine the Tour’s governance structure, at the request of other high-profile golfers, most notably Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.

Put those details together, and there’s an intriguing possibility worth pondering as tournament week begins in Memphis.

The PGA Tour is bringing so much of its drama this week, maybe even Woods will show up at TPC Southwind for the first time.

Not to play in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, of course. That became all but impossible the moment he got in that car accident two years ago and nearly lost his leg. His body won’t allow him to play the number of tournaments he would need to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Memphis last year transitioned to a playoff event.

But he could hop on that private jet of his, land at Wilson Air Center and head over to TPC Southwind instead of Zooming in for the meeting. Almost 27 years after turning professional, it would be the closest Woods has ever come to being part of this tournament, which has so much tradition and goodwill attached to it because of its longevity and its partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

There’s precedent, too

Last August, Woods showed up in Delaware ahead of the BMW Championship for a crucial players-only meeting as the PGA Tour’s feud with LIV Golf kept escalating.

That was before he had an official leadership role like he does now, and just a couple of days after the conclusion of an especially awkward 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Cam Smith, on the heels of winning the Open Championship, had to sidestep questions about his impending departure for LIV Golf, while the defending champion in Memphis last year, Abraham Ancer, already had defected from the PGA Tour and couldn’t…