Tiger Woods to lead group that could reshape the PGA Tour's competitive model

ATLANTA (AP) — Tiger Woods is a major player in golf again, this time without clubs. He was appointed Wednesday to chair a new committee charged with taking a fresh look at the competitive model for how the PGA Tour runs its tournaments.

Brian Rolapp, three weeks into his role as the tour's first CEO, announced the nine-member “Future Competition Committee” and said it would have a clean sheet to consider changes that uphold traditions without being tied to them.

“This is about shaping the next era of the PGA Tour,” Woods said in a social media post.

Rolapp didn't have details on several issues he faces as he takes over for Commissioner Jay Monahan, including the future of a sport that has been splintered by Saudi money that created the rival LIV Golf League and lured away a number of top players.

The PGA Tour's negotiations with the Public Investment Fund have stalled, and Rolapp did not make that sound as if it were a top priority when asked about the fans' desire to see all the best players together more often.

“I'm going to focus on what I can control,” Rolapp said. "I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA Tour. I think there’s a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I’m going to lean into that and strengthen that.

“I will also say that to the extent we can do anything that’s going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we’ll do that,” he said. “And I’m interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.”

Woods, who has played only 10 times on the PGA Tour since his February 2021 car crash and has been out all of this year with a ruptured Achilles tendon, already serves on the PGA Tour board without a term limit.

Now he will lead five players from the board — Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell — along with three from the business side. That includes baseball executive Theo Epstein.

Rolapp is not trying to reinvent a sport that held its first championship in 1860. He said among his early observations, after two decades at the NFL, was the strength and momentum of the PGA Tour.

“My key takeaway when you boil all this down is that the strength of the PGA Tour is strong, but there’s much more we need to do, much more we need to change for the benefit of fans, players and our partners,” he said.

He said the committee would be guided by parity (he conceded golf already has that), scarcity and simplicity.

The tour released a 2026 schedule on Tuesday that adds another $20 million signature event, this one to Trump National Doral, as part of a 35-event schedule from January through August. Rolapp said the simplicity was mostly about connecting the regular season to the postseason.

He referred to the committee's work as a “holistic relook of how we compete on the tour” during the regular season, postseason and offseason.

“The goal is not incremental change,” he said. “The goal is significant change.”

He did not set a timetable for any of it. The Tour Championship ends this week at East Lake for the top 30 players. The tour has eliminated the built-in advantage for top seeds so that everyone starts from scratch.

The committee is a smaller version of the PGA Tour Enterprises board and policy board. Joining Epstein from the business side are board chairman Joe Gorder and John Henry of Fenway Sports Group, who leads the Strategic Sports Group that invested $1.5 billion — with the potential to double that — into the tour in a minority investment announced 18 months ago.

Rolapp said he had a lot of ideas how to the use the money but none he was ready to share. But he said the involvement of SSG was a big reason he took the job.

"Not only does it provide necessary capital as we work through this competitive model and improved commercial model, I also think it also brings learnings from other sports, which I think is beneficial ... to grow the PGA Tour.

“I think outside perspective is always a very good thing, as long as it’s applied in the right way. I think SSG has brought that and has been helpful."

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

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan speaks before a practice round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp speaks before a practice round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE - Tiger Woods of the United States walks to the 18th green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell, File)

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp speaks before a practice round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.

The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

State television also showed images of more than a dozen people it said were wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.

“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.

The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said, adding that she hopes no one invades her country. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”

The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.

“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.

In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.

In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.

“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”

The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.

But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.

“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”

Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)